Among continents, European countries sold the most gold exports during 2019 with shipments valued at $109.4 billion or over a third (37%) of the worldwide total. Asian exporters generated 30.8% worth of gold exports, while 12.1% worth was shipped from North America. Gold suppliers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean came in at 7.1%, trailed by Oceania (6.5%) led by Australia and Papua New Guinea, and then Africa (also 6.5%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for unwrought or semi-manufactured gold is 7108.
Gold Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019.
- Switzerland: US$62 billion (21% of total gold exports)
- Hong Kong: $25.2 billion (8.5%)
- United Kingdom: $23.3 billion (7.9%)
- United Arab Emirates: $17.7 billion (6%)
- United States: $17.2 billion (5.8%)
- Australia: $16.2 billion (5.5%)
- Canada: $15.3 billion (5.2%)
- Singapore: $11.6 billion (3.9%)
- Thailand: $7.6 billion (2.6%)
- Peru: $6.7 billion (2.3%)
- Germany: $6.6 billion (2.2%)
- Japan: $6.4 billion (2.2%)
- Russia: $5.7 billion (1.9%)
- Uzbekistan: $4.9 billion (1.7%)
- South Africa: $4.6 billion (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 78.2% of global gold exports in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing gold exporters since 2015 were: Singapore (up 947.5%), Russia (up 314.5%), Thailand (up 101.6%) and Australia (up 51.5%).
Five countries posted declines in their exported gold sales namely Hong Kong (down -44%), United Kingdom (down -39.5%), Switzerland (down -13.9%), United States (down -11.1%) and South Africa (down -9%).
For a comprehensive listing of gold exporters, please see the section Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries below.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for gold during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s gold exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Australia: US$11.5 billion (net export surplus up 48% since 2015)
- Hong Kong: $11.2 billion (up 27.7%)
- United Arab Emirates: $11 billion (reversing a -$9.3 billion deficit)
- Canada: $9.6 billion (up 63.8%)
- United States: $7.5 billion (down -12.1%)
- Peru: $6.7 billion (up 18.5%)
- Japan: $6.3 billion (up 36%)
- Russia: $5.7 billion (up 379%)
- Uzbekistan: $4.9 billion (no 2015 data)
- Ghana: $4.6 billion (no 2015 data)
- South Africa: $4.3 billion (down -15.4%)
- Brazil: $3.6 billion (up 54.4%)
- Mexico: $3.1 billion (down -24%)
- Papua New Guinea: $2.6 billion (up 43.5%)
- Iraq: $2.4 billion (up 227.6%)
Overtaking Hong Kong in 2019, Australia garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of gold among the above top precious metal exporters. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Australia’s strong competitive advantage in the international trade of this specific commodity.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gold during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s gold import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: -US$47.5 billion (net export deficit reversing a -$10.8 billion surplus in 2015)
- China: -$42.8 billion (no 2015 data)
- India: -$32.1 billion (up 8.2% from 2015)
- Turkey: -$9.2 billion (reversing a $4 billion surplus)
- Malaysia: -$2 billion (down -28%)
- Azerbaijan: -$1.9 billion (up 3,463,379%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$1.7 billion (down -65.3%)
- Italy: -$1.2 billion (up 9%)
- Cambodia: -$540.4 million (down -1%)
- Taiwan: -$451.4 million (up 20.2%)
- Qatar: -$333.4 million (up 30.4%)
- Kazakhstan: -$271.2 million (down -228.1%)
- Bangladesh: -$268.1 million (no 2015 data)
- Cayman Islands: -$158.6 million (up 1,740%)
- Czech Republic: -$98.1 million (up 78.1%)
Overtaking China in 2019, the United Kingdom incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gold. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights the UK’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gold-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among British consumers and businesses.
Companies
Gold Exporting Companies
Listed below are the world’s largest gold companies by market capitalization (which shifts often and dramatically due to the fact that many of these are stock companies). Shown within parentheses is the country where the corporation is headquartered.
- Barrick Gold (Canada)
- Newmont Mining (United States)
- Goldcorp (Canada)
- Polyus Gold International (United Kingdom)
- AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa)
- Newcrest Mining (Australia)
- Kinross Gold (Canada)
- Gold Fields Ltd (South Africa)
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (Canada)
- Buenaventura (Peru)
- Harmony Gold (South Africa)
- Randgold Resources (Jersey)
- Yamana Gold (Canada)
Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. Note that an entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2018 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Gold Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Switzerland | $61,965,247,000 | -3.1% |
| 2. | Hong Kong | $25,192,104,000 | -32.3% |
| 3. | United Kingdom | $23,308,473,000 | -26.7% |
| 4. | United Arab Emirates | $17,718,288,000 | +12.7% |
| 5. | United States | $17,173,208,000 | -15.4% |
| 6. | Australia | $16,247,331,000 | +15% |
| 7. | Canada | $15,342,094,000 | +25.2% |
| 8. | Singapore | $11,562,255,000 | +4% |
| 9. | Thailand | $7,590,431,000 | +73.7% |
| 10. | Peru | $6,703,829,000 | -3.7% |
| 11. | Germany | $6,628,015,000 | +41.7% |
| 12. | Japan | $6,410,632,000 | +2.1% |
| 13. | Russia | $5,740,669,000 | +723.5% |
| 14. | Uzbekistan | $4,918,436,000 | +69% |
| 15. | South Africa | $4,630,892,000 | -15.2% |
| 16. | Ghana | $4,609,300,000 | -24.3% |
| 17. | Italy | $4,072,104,000 | +79.1% |
| 18. | Brazil | $3,594,654,000 | +27.7% |
| 19. | Indonesia | $3,244,702,000 | +59.7% |
| 20. | Mexico | $3,232,824,000 | -25% |
| 21. | Papua New Guinea | $2,570,382,000 | +16.3% |
| 22. | Iraq | $2,400,639,000 | +73.6% |
| 23. | Burkina Faso | $2,268,531,000 | +5.8% |
| 24. | Argentina | $2,212,994,000 | -0.9% |
| 25. | Turkey | $2,000,728,000 | -22.7% |
| 26. | Belgium | $1,863,667,000 | +336.9% |
| 27. | Colombia | $1,696,359,000 | +19.3% |
| 28. | Dominican Republic | $1,637,456,000 | +13.4% |
| 29. | Spain | $1,428,961,000 | +11.4% |
| 30. | Philippines | $1,374,438,000 | +20.9% |
| 31. | Mali | $1,279,570,000 | -50.5% |
| 32. | France | $1,267,142,000 | +10.8% |
| 33. | Cambodia | $1,264,568,000 | +3,920% |
| 34. | Suriname | $1,211,441,000 | +21% |
| 35. | Chile | $1,155,302,000 | -13.8% |
| 36. | China | $1,125,642,000 | +37.4% |
| 37. | Lebanon | $1,071,979,000 | +270.5% |
| 38. | Zimbabwe | $1,063,914,000 | -6.8% |
| 39. | Bolivia | $984,927,000 | -15.5% |
| 40. | South Korea | $885,385,000 | +62.6% |
| 41. | Kyrgyzstan | $832,878,000 | +25.4% |
| 42. | Tanzania | $810,263,000 | -46.3% |
| 43. | Austria | $800,268,000 | -1.5% |
| 44. | Taiwan | $799,449,000 | +66.3% |
| 45. | Ivory Coast | $674,513,000 | -15.7% |
| 46. | Saudi Arabia | $671,322,000 | +28.5% |
| 47. | Sweden | $662,605,000 | +4.5% |
| 48. | Egypt | $659,528,000 | -54.6% |
| 49. | Senegal | $641,077,000 | +13.8% |
| 50. | Guinea | $628,523,000 | -77.5% |
| 51. | Mongolia | $624,832,000 | +332.4% |
| 52. | Mauritania | $590,442,000 | +77.1% |
| 53. | Nicaragua | $563,713,000 | +52% |
| 54. | Guyana | $472,788,000 | -22.3% |
| 55. | Malaysia | $448,273,000 | +40.7% |
| 56. | New Zealand | $387,556,000 | -10.5% |
| 57. | Namibia | $324,518,000 | +12.9% |
| 58. | Finland | $271,583,000 | +8.5% |
| 59. | Armenia | $223,948,000 | +26.6% |
| 60. | Tajikistan | $223,877,000 | 0% |
| 61. | Libya | $221,950,000 | -72.4% |
| 62. | Poland | $215,359,000 | +36.7% |
| 63. | Portugal | $203,675,000 | +22.7% |
| 64. | Ecuador | $194,162,000 | +14.7% |
| 65. | Azerbaijan | $172,435,000 | +18.5% |
| 66. | Slovakia | $164,375,000 | +1.4% |
| 67. | Liberia | $150,516,000 | -58.1% |
| 68. | Panama | $139,222,000 | -43.9% |
| 69. | Curaçao | $137,793,000 | -0.1% |
| 70. | Netherlands | $123,015,000 | -57.9% |
| 71. | Venezuela | $112,847,000 | -95.8% |
| 72. | Norway | $107,695,000 | +13% |
| 73. | Czech Republic | $104,270,000 | +41.7% |
| 74. | Honduras | $86,516,000 | +0.4% |
| 75. | Luxembourg | $86,152,000 | +16% |
| 76. | Madagascar | $84,645,000 | -8.2% |
| 77. | Zambia | $73,688,000 | -22.4% |
| 78. | Georgia | $72,832,000 | +13.1% |
| 79. | Ethiopia | $71,638,000 | +11.8% |
| 80. | Guinea-Bissau | $70,398,000 | 0% |
| 81. | Hungary | $69,181,000 | +26.2% |
| 82. | Estonia | $68,699,000 | +44.5% |
| 83. | Morocco | $63,988,000 | +59.5% |
| 84. | Jordan | $54,475,000 | +199.2% |
| 85. | Fiji | $49,884,000 | -8.9% |
| 86. | Laos | $47,962,000 | -69.2% |
| 87. | Democratic Rep. Congo | $43,833,000 | -42.6% |
| 88. | Botswana | $42,746,000 | -3.2% |
| 89. | Croatia | $40,548,000 | +6.3% |
| 90. | Sudan | $33,686,000 | -96.7% |
| 91. | Costa Rica | $31,045,000 | +0.6% |
| 92. | Slovenia | $30,421,000 | +15.4% |
| 93. | Bulgaria | $29,977,000 | +47.8% |
| 94. | Vietnam | $28,841,000 | +397.7% |
| 95. | Serbia | $27,375,000 | +13.6% |
| 96. | Greece | $24,698,000 | -14.9% |
| 97. | Latvia | $22,849,000 | -43.5% |
| 98. | Cyprus | $22,757,000 | +1.4% |
| 99. | India | $20,526,000 | +8,672% |
| 100. | Belarus | $20,161,000 | 0% |
| 101. | Denmark | $18,031,000 | -38.8% |
| 102. | Benin | $14,801,000 | +14.2% |
| 103. | Cayman Islands | $14,222,000 | +3,473% |
| 104. | Cuba | $12,954,000 | +55.5% |
| 105. | Paraguay | $8,848,000 | +162.1% |
| 106. | Ireland | $6,279,000 | +13.1% |
| 107. | Kazakhstan | $5,322,000 | +2.1% |
| 108. | Central African Rep | $3,316,000 | +6.1% |
| 109. | Malta | $2,897,000 | -1.9% |
| 110. | Qatar | $2,699,000 | 0% |
| 111. | Mozambique | $2,448,000 | +47% |
| 112. | Equatorial Guinea | $2,334,000 | -86.6% |
| 113. | Kenya | $2,239,000 | -80.8% |
| 114. | Solomon Islands | $2,230,000 | -27.9% |
| 115. | Algeria | $2,208,000 | -73.3% |
| 116. | Israel | $2,161,000 | +774.9% |
| 117. | Andorra | $2,075,000 | -28.8% |
| 118. | Ukraine | $2,042,000 | -87.3% |
| 119. | Sierra Leone | $1,261,000 | 0% |
| 120. | Romania | $1,257,000 | -55.8% |
| 121. | Albania | $1,182,000 | 0% |
| 122. | Bahrain | $1,181,000 | -97.7% |
| 123. | Iran | $980,000 | 0% |
| 124. | Barbados | $963,000 | +4.6% |
| 125. | Oman | $862,000 | -97.8% |
| 126. | Burundi | $824,000 | -98.2% |
| 127. | Uganda | $754,000 | -99.9% |
| 128. | Mauritius | $749,000 | -19.5% |
| 129. | Moldova | $640,000 | -40.2% |
| 130. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $579,000 | +293.9% |
| 131. | Palestine | $482,000 | 0% |
| 132. | Kuwait | $348,000 | -81.5% |
| 133. | Lithuania | $325,000 | -50.5% |
| 134. | Eswatini | $252,000 | -45.2% |
| 135. | Uruguay | $209,000 | -98.7% |
| 136. | Trinidad/Tobago | $196,000 | 0% |
| 137. | Brunei Darussalam | $164,000 | 0% |
| 138. | Cameroon | $90,000 | -100% |
| 139. | US Minor Outlying Is | $68,000 | -77.6% |
| 140. | New Caledonia | $43,000 | -8.5% |
| 141. | Tokelau | $41,000 | 0% |
| 142. | Niger | $40,000 | -100% |
| 143. | Gambia | $39,000 | 0% |
| 144. | Seychelles | $38,000 | 0% |
| 145. | Cook Islands | $35,000 | 0% |
| 146. | Bahamas | $34,000 | -29.2% |
| 147. | Jamaica | $22,000 | 0% |
| 148. | Iceland | $20,000 | 0% |
| 149. | Sri Lanka | $16,000 | -99% |
| 150. | Grenada | $5,000 | +25% |
| 151. | Pakistan | $5,000 | 0% |
See also Gold Imports by Country, Silver Exports by Country, Platinum Exports by Country and Palladium Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Forbes 2015 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on April 30, 2020
International Trade Centre , Trade Map. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Gold. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Largest gold companies. Accessed on April 30, 2020