[ad_1]
Russian gold is heading to obscure buyers and traders in Hong Kong, Turkey and the UAE.
Major Western companies have stopped buying Russian gold bars due to the sanctions.
In the six months to August, Russia exported more than $500 million worth of gold to the UAE.
Western buyers have shunned Russian gold since Moscow invaded Ukraine, changing the bullion market and sending sellers to buyers in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Turkey.
The Group of Seven and the European Union banned Russian gold imports last year and prevented companies from those countries from trading in gold.
Considering that Russia alone cannot absorb the $20 billion in gold it mines annually, smaller players have begun filling the gap once filled by buyers such as JPMorgan and HSBC.
Customs data from ImportGenius Bloomberg quote It showed that in the six months to August, Russian goods had been re-shipped to countries not subject to the same restrictions as in the West.
Merchants in places such as the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Turkey are still allowed to buy Russian gold because they are exempt from any sanctions.
For example, Hong Kong-based VPower Finance Security, which moves cash and gold for Chinese banks, stepped in as a new player to process more than $300 million in Russian gold from March 2022 to August 2022, according to Bloomberg.
In the UAE’s case, more than $500 million in metals flowed into its shores during the same period. Most of these merchants are reportedly based in Dubai, such as Paloma Precious DMCC, which imported $109 million.
Meanwhile, Turkey has seen roughly $305 million in Russian gold pass through its Istanbul airport over a six-month period, according to ImportGenius.
However, Russia is likely still struggling to reach pre-war gold export levels. In the first two months of 2022 alone, JPMorgan saw $1.2 billion in Russian gold deliveries before pulling out when the war started.
read the original text business insider
[ad_2]
Source link