September trade figures have revealed that two very large private shipments of gold have arrived in the country recently, the Dominion Post has reported.
Mike O'Kane of New Zealand Mint suggested it could be an overseas buyer storing their gold in this country.
"We are seeing a lot of offshore clients wanting to store here in New Zealand because we've got a nice stable government" he said.
"You've got to pay to get it shipped here, which does add a very large margin to most buyers. But if you're looking to buy and hold a large amount, then we do tick a lot of boxes."
However, after querying the shipments with Customs, Statistics NZ put the coins into the 'collectable' rather than 'investment' category.
'Pure' or investment-grade gold did not incur duty when it came into the country and generally was treated as a financial transaction by Statistics NZ. Coins such as gold sovereigns, which were less than 99.5 per cent pure, did incur GST and in this case, showed up in the trade figures.
There were apparently two large shipments of gold coins, worth $64 million and imported from Canada, but the owner or owners remain a mystery, the paper said.
We now have detailed gold, silver and other precious metals data updated daily on this service.
Here are the direct links to this new daily data ...
gold coins,
gold bars,
gold scrap, and
international precious metals prices.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.