That dollar amount reflects a 24% gain in value since 2017 when worldwide gold shipments were valued at $317.7 billion.
Year over year, revenues from globally exported gold fell by -5.3% from $415.8 billion in 2020.
The 5 biggest gold exporters in 2021 were Switzerland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. Collectively, that cohort of major gold exporters generated over half (54.7%) of international gold sales.
In addition, the United States was the world leader in re-exporting gold in 2021. America imported then re-exported $4.9 billion worth of gold up by 719.2% since 2017 and expanding by 62.4% from $2 billion in 2020.
Among continents, exporters in European countries overtook shippers in Asia for selling the most gold on international markets with shipments valued at $164.9 billion or 41.9% of the worldwide total. In second place, exporters in Asia furnished 27.9% worth of gold exports.
Another 11.7% worth was shipped from North America while 7% originated from gold suppliers in Africa.
Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean came in at 6.6%, trailed by Oceania (5%) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for unwrought or semi-manufactured gold is 7108.
Gold Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2021.
- Switzerland: $86.8 billion (22%)
- United Kingdom: $41.4 billion (10.5%)
- Hong Kong: $30.8 billion (7.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: $28.7 billion (7.3%)
- United States: $27.7 billion (7%)
- Australia: $17.5 billion (4.4%)
- Russia: $17.4 billion (4.4%)
- Canada: $15.1 billion (3.8%)
- Singapore: $15 billion (3.8%)
- Peru: $7.7 billion (2%)
- Japan: $7.6 billion (1.9%)
- South Africa: $7.4 billion (1.9%)
- Germany: $6.1 billion (1.5%)
- Brazil: $5.3 billion (1.3%)
- Italy: $4.2 billion (1.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 80.9% of global gold exports in 2021.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing gold exporters from 2020 to 2021 were: United Kingdom (up 93.2%), United States (up 35.1%), Switzerland (up 21.1%) and Peru (up 19.9%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported gold sales were led by: Italy (down -36.7%), Germany (down -30.2%), Hong Kong (down -25.3%), Japan (down -8.2%) and Russia (down -6.3%).
For a comprehensive listing of 100 major gold exporters, please see the section Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries below.
Countries Enjoying Greatest Surpluses Trading Gold
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for gold during 2021. 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.
- United Arab Emirates: US$18.2 billion (reversing a -$8 billion deficit in 2020)
- Russia: $17.3 billion (down -6.3% from 2020)
- United States of America: $13.8 billion (reversing a -$14.2 billion deficit)
- Australia: $12.6 billion (up 13.5%)
- Canada: $8.5 billion (up 16.4%)
- Peru: $7.7 billion (up 20.4%)
- Japan: $7.3 billion (down -8.8%)
- South Africa: $7.0 billion (up 10.1%)
- Brazil: $5.3 billion (up 8.0%)
- Uzbekistan: $4.1 billion (down -29.1%)
- Burkina Faso: $3.9 billion (up 9.8%)
- Kazakhstan: $3.59 billion (reversing a -$327.4 million deficit)
- Ghana: $3.58 billion (down -39.6%)
- Guinea: $3.4 billion (down -58.1%)
- Mexico: $3.3 billion (down -2.6%)
The United Arab Emirates garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of gold among the above top precious metal exporters in 2021. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the UAE’s strong competitive advantage in the international trade of this precious metal.
Countries Incurring Biggest Deficits Trading Gold
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gold during 2021. 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.
- India: -US$55.8 billion (net export deficit up 157.4% since 2020)
- China: -$40.8 billion (up 418%)
- United Kingdom: -$12.3 billion (down -81.6%)
- Cambodia: -$5.8 billion (reversing a $2 billion surplus)
- Switzerland: -$5.6 billion (down -65.7%)
- Germany: -$5 billion (reversing a $455.5 million surplus)
- Thailand: -$4.5 billion (reversing an $8.3 billion surplus)
- Malaysia: -$4 billion (up 93.2%)
- Italy: -$3.3 billion (up 8%)
- Austria: -$3 billion (up 221.7%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$2.6 billion (reversing a $677.1 million surplus)
- Turkey: -$2 billion (down -91%)
- South Korea: -$1.9 billion (reversing an $804.2 million surplus)
- Taiwan: -$1.4 billion (reversing a $154.6 million surplus)
- Indonesia: -$1.2 billion (reversing a $3.6 billion surplus)
India incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gold during 2021. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights the India’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gold-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among Indian consumers and businesses.
Major Gold Exporting Companies
Listed below are the world’s largest gold companies by market capitalization (which shifts often and dramatically due to the fact that many of these are stock companies). Shown within parentheses is the country where the corporation is headquartered.
- Barrick Gold (Canada)
- Newmont Mining (United States)
- Goldcorp (Canada)
- Polyus Gold International (United Kingdom)
- AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa)
- Newcrest Mining (Australia)
- Kinross Gold (Canada)
- Gold Fields Ltd (South Africa)
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (Canada)
- Buenaventura (Peru)
- Harmony Gold (South Africa)
- Randgold Resources (Jersey)
- Yamana Gold (Canada)
Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries in 2021
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. Note that an entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2020 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Gold Exports (US$) | 2020-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Switzerland | $86,761,854,000 | +21.1% |
| 2. | United Kingdom | $41,432,362,000 | +93.2% |
| 3. | Hong Kong | $30,821,254,000 | -25.3% |
| 4. | United Arab Emirates | $28,744,980,000 | -1.9% |
| 5. | United States | $27,719,367,000 | +35.1% |
| 6. | Australia | $17,498,514,000 | +0.3% |
| 7. | Russia | $17,362,802,000 | -6.3% |
| 8. | Canada | $15,052,299,000 | -6.1% |
| 9. | Singapore | $15,039,728,000 | -4.8% |
| 10. | Peru | $7,719,126,000 | +19.9% |
| 11. | Japan | $7,636,688,000 | -8.2% |
| 12. | South Africa | $7,439,292,000 | +10% |
| 13. | Germany | $6,070,349,000 | -30.2% |
| 14. | Brazil | $5,294,257,000 | +8% |
| 15. | Italy | $4,239,217,000 | -36.7% |
| 16. | Uzbekistan | $4,109,750,000 | -29.2% |
| 17. | Kazakhstan | $3,952,058,000 | +60570% |
| 18. | Burkina Faso | $3,916,733,000 | +9.8% |
| 19. | Thailand | $3,850,295,000 | -71.1% |
| 20. | Ghana | $3,584,603,000 | -39.6% |
| 21. | Turkey | $3,482,598,000 | +25.3% |
| 22. | Guinea | $3,418,262,000 | -58.3% |
| 23. | Mexico | $3,413,974,000 | -2.1% |
| 24. | Colombia | $3,132,367,000 | +7.9% |
| 25. | China | $2,913,160,000 | -17.8% |
| 26. | Tanzania | $2,743,130,000 | -5.9% |
| 27. | Bolivia | $2,530,890,000 | +105.9% |
| 28. | Austria | $2,111,461,000 | +29.7% |
| 29. | Spain | $1,966,868,000 | +106% |
| 30. | Dominican Republic | $1,831,464,000 | +3.7% |
| 31. | Mali | $1,701,304,000 | -64.1% |
| 32. | Papua New Guinea | $1,646,804,000 | -28.3% |
| 33. | France | $1,637,762,000 | +19.3% |
| 34. | Indonesia | $1,519,589,000 | -72.6% |
| 35. | Côte d'Ivoire | $1,312,653,000 | -10.4% |
| 36. | Belgium | $1,211,914,000 | -23.2% |
| 37. | Suriname | $1,177,669,000 | +56.3% |
| 38. | Egypt | $1,103,299,000 | -62.3% |
| 39. | Saudi Arabia | $1,074,929,000 | -41.7% |
| 40. | Mongolia | $1,054,401,000 | -41% |
| 41. | Iraq | $970,853,000 | -87.8% |
| 42. | Chile | $958,971,000 | +0.5% |
| 43. | Philippines | $954,698,000 | -24.6% |
| 44. | Nicaragua | $867,705,000 | +30.2% |
| 45. | Argentina | $855,807,000 | -20.1% |
| 46. | Taiwan | $808,067,000 | -62.1% |
| 47. | Sweden | $806,285,000 | -11.9% |
| 48. | South Korea | $695,437,000 | -59.3% |
| 49. | Tajikistan | $661,035,000 | +11.3% |
| 50. | Laos | $597,136,000 | +30.6% |
| 51. | Ecuador | $572,623,000 | +51.3% |
| 52. | Guyana | $555,320,000 | -8.6% |
| 53. | Namibia | $442,168,000 | +10.2% |
| 54. | Senegal | $438,313,000 | -40.4% |
| 55. | Lebanon | $423,076,000 | -61.2% |
| 56. | Liberia | $342,595,000 | +44.6% |
| 57. | New Zealand | $337,317,000 | +1% |
| 58. | Mauritania | $323,937,000 | -57.9% |
| 59. | Netherlands | $278,392,000 | -5.5% |
| 60. | Eswatini | $278,313,000 | +302414% |
| 61. | Azerbaijan | $202,523,000 | -1.5% |
| 62. | Malaysia | $166,765,000 | +4.4% |
| 63. | Honduras | $163,070,000 | +42% |
| 64. | Estonia | $135,102,000 | +15% |
| 65. | Armenia | $133,804,000 | -47.7% |
| 66. | Cambodia | $131,950,000 | -95.6% |
| 67. | Portugal | $129,573,000 | -42% |
| 68. | Norway | $126,003,000 | -14.9% |
| 69. | Poland | $119,498,000 | -28.5% |
| 70. | Libya | $99,994,000 | -93.9% |
| 71. | Croatia | $98,253,000 | +30.8% |
| 72. | Panama | $98,168,000 | +68% |
| 73. | Zambia | $66,209,000 | -6.6% |
| 74. | Georgia | $64,220,000 | -34.2% |
| 75. | Fiji | $58,358,000 | -5.9% |
| 76. | Hungary | $57,921,000 | -42.3% |
| 77. | Czech Republic | $55,431,000 | -40% |
| 78. | Luxembourg | $53,907,000 | +6.6% |
| 79. | Slovakia | $44,959,000 | -41.3% |
| 80. | Morocco | $40,363,000 | -11.1% |
| 81. | Botswana | $37,704,000 | -18.7% |
| 82. | Sudan | $28,822,000 | -98.4% |
| 83. | Ukraine | $27,622,000 | -31.6% |
| 84. | Slovenia | $26,524,000 | -19.5% |
| 85. | Costa Rica | $25,009,000 | +33.1% |
| 86. | Bulgaria | $24,429,000 | -16.2% |
| 87. | Jordan | $19,807,000 | -95.5% |
| 88. | Denmark | $19,518,000 | +26.6% |
| 89. | Serbia | $19,154,000 | +11.9% |
| 90. | Cyprus | $19,049,000 | +44.9% |
| 91. | Greece | $17,651,000 | -42.9% |
| 92. | Central African Rep | $17,175,000 | +66.1% |
| 93. | Ireland | $16,281,000 | +97.3% |
| 94. | Kenya | $15,474,000 | +59.1% |
| 95. | Benin | $15,316,000 | +3.8% |
| 96. | Finland | $13,717,000 | -81% |
| 97. | Solomon Islands | $11,538,000 | +1125% |
| 98. | Israel | $11,077,000 | -54.4% |
| 99. | Brunei Darussalam | $9,913,000 | -15.4% |
| 100. | Venezuela | $8,861,000 | -56.1% |
The listed 100 gold exporters accounted for 99.98% of overall exported gold sales for 2021.
From 2020 to 2021, the fastest-growing exporters of gold were Eswatini (up 302,414%), Kazakhstan (up 60,570%), Solomon Islands (up 1,125%), Spain (up 106%), Bolivia (up 105.9%) then Ireland (up 97.3%).
Average Unit Prices for Top Gold Exporters
Calculated based on the top 100 exporters of gold, the average unit price for exported gold was $42.828 million per ton in 2021.
The unit price per ton for the 100 biggest exporters of gold rose by 18.3% since 2017 but flatlined via a 1.8% increase from 2020 to 2021.
Below, you will find the average price charged per ton of exported gold for the 15 biggest exporters of bullion ranked by total dollar value of gold shipments.
- Switzerland: US$57,841,236 per ton of exported gold (up 3.5% from 2020)
- United Kingdom: $57,866,427 per ton (up 2%)
- Hong Kong: $57,288,576 per ton (up 0.7%)
- United Arab Emirates: $60,135,941 per ton (up 134.6%)
- United States: $57,628,622 per ton (up 2.8%)
- Australia: $51,415,810 per ton (2020 data unavailable)
- Russia: $57,492,722 per ton (down -0.7%)
- Canada: $49,030,290 per ton (down -11.3%)
- Singapore: $50,982,129 per ton (down -2.2%)
- Peru: $18,205,486 per ton (down -1.6%)
- Japan: $45,728,671 per ton (down -18.7%)
- South Africa: $58,119,469 per ton (up 6.6%)
- Germany: $52,785,643 per ton (up 5.6%)
- Brazil: $50,906,317 per ton (up 1.7%)
- Italy: $51,074,904 per ton (down -4.7%)
The average unit price for the top 15 gold exporters was $51.767 million per ton, much higher than the average $42.828 million pertinent to the 100 biggest bullion exporters.
Gold exports from the listed countries increased by an average 41.9% since 2017 and expanded by 3.4% year over year.
The most expensive gold exporters ranked starting with the highest average unit price per ton are the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States of America.
The lowest unit charges per ton of gold originate from Peru.
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 June 2, 2022
Forbes 2017 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 2, 2022
International Trade Centre , Trade Map. Accessed on June 2, 2022
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 2, 2022
Wikipedia, Gold. Accessed on June 2, 2022
Wikipedia, Largest gold companies. Accessed on June 2, 2022
