That dollar amount results from a 45.2% gain in value since 2018 when worldwide gold shipments were valued at $300.8 billion.
Year over year, revenues from globally exported gold rose 5.2% from $415.4 billion in 2021.
The 5 biggest gold exporters in 2022 were Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. Collectively, that cohort of major gold exporters generated about three-fifths (60.6%) of international gold sales.
In addition, the United States was the world leader in re-exporting gold. America imported then re-exported $11.9 billion worth of gold in 2022, up from $4.9 billion for 2021 and just $517.4 million during 2018.
Among continents, exporters in European countries placed first for selling the most gold on international markets with shipments valued at $202 billion or 46.2% of the worldwide total. In second place, exporters in Asia furnished 24.2% worth of gold exports.
Another 12.6% worth was shipped from North America while 6.7% originated from gold suppliers in Africa.
Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean came in at 5.9% in international gold sales, trailed by Oceania (4.2%) led by Australia and Papua New Guinea.
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 2022.
- Switzerland: US$100.3 billion (23%)
- United Kingdom: $73 billion (16.7%)
- United States: $37.2 billion (8.5%)
- Hong Kong: $30.2 billion (6.9%)
- United Arab Emirates: $24.1 billion (5.5%)
- Australia: $16.4 billion (3.7%)
- Singapore: $15.5 billion (3.6%)
- Canada: $15 billion (3.4%)
- Japan: $10.9 billion (2.5%)
- Peru: $7.4 billion (1.7%)
- Russia: $7.1 billion (1.6%)
- Germany: $7 billion (1.6%)
- Thailand: $6.8 billion (1.6%)
- South Africa: $5.3 billion (1.2%)
- Brazil: $4.9 billion (1.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 82.6% of gold globally exported in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing gold exporters from 2021 to 2022 were: Thailand (up 77%), United Kingdom (up 76%), Japan (up 42.4%) and the United States of America (up 33.7%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported gold sales were led by: Russia (down -58.9% from 2021), South Africa (down -29%), United Arab Emirates (down -28.8%), Brazil (down -7.3%) and Australia (down -6.5%).
For a comprehensive listing of 100 major gold exporters with pertinent statisticsd, 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 2022. 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 Kingdom: US$31 billion (net export surplus down -352.2% since 2021)
- United States of America: $27.6 billion (up 98.2%)
- Australia: $11.5 billion (down -8.5%)
- Japan: $10.6 billion (up 44.5%)
- United Arab Emirates: $8.6 billion (reversing a -$14.4 billion deficit)
- Peru: $7.4 billion (down -4.6%)
- Russia: $7.1 billion (down -59.2%)
- Canada: $6.9 billion (down -20.4%)
- Brazil: $4.9 billion (down -7.3%)
- Ghana: $4.8 billion (down -8.3%)
- South Africa: $4.8 billion (down -30.8%)
- Uzbekistan: $4.11 billion (up 0.2%)
- Burkina Faso: $3.37 billion (down -13.9%)
- Bolivia: $3 billion (up 18.7%)
- Mexico: $2.98 billion (down -9.7%)
The United Kingdom garnered the highest surplus in the international trade of gold among the above top precious metal exporters in 2022. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the UK’s strong competitive advantage in the international trade of the popular precious metal.
Countries Incurring Biggest Deficits Trading Gold
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gold during 2022. 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.
- mainland China: -US$73.4 billion (net export deficit up 66.3% since 2021)
- India: -$36.5 billion (down -34.6%)
- Türkiye: -$19.4 billion (up 861.7%)
- Hong Kong: -$7.9 billion (reversing a $1.7 billion surplus)
- Thailand: -$4.6 billion (up 0.7%)
- Cambodia: -$4.2 billion (down -26.8%)
- Austria: -$3.8 billion (up 24.6%)
- Germany: -$3.63 billion (down -26.9%)
- Malaysia: -$3.56 billion (down -11.9%)
- Italy: -$3.4 billion (up 3.7%)
- Indonesia: -$2.5 billion (up 114.4%)
- Singapore: -$2.2 billion (reversing a $560.3 million surplus)
- Saudi Arabia: -$2.1 billion (down -17.8%)
- Jordan: -$1.5 billion (up 41.4%)
- Taiwan: -$912.2 million (down -35.6%)
Mainland China incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gold during 2022. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights the People’s Republic’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gold-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among Chinese 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 businesses 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 2022
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 2021 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Gold Exports | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Switzerland | $100,342,346,000 | +15.6% |
| 2. | United Kingdom | $72,975,904,000 | +76% |
| 3. | United States | $37,175,293,000 | +33.7% |
| 4. | Hong Kong | $30,153,203,000 | -2.2% |
| 5. | United Arab Emirates | $24,062,559,000 | -28.8% |
| 6. | Australia | $16,366,771,000 | -6.5% |
| 7. | Singapore | $15,527,716,000 | +3.2% |
| 8. | Canada | $14,975,092,000 | -1.2% |
| 9. | Japan | $10,878,030,000 | +42.4% |
| 10. | Peru | $7,364,946,000 | -4.6% |
| 11. | Russia | $7,142,429,000 | -58.9% |
| 12. | Germany | $6,997,489,000 | +15.2% |
| 13. | Thailand | $6,814,049,000 | +77% |
| 14. | South Africa | $5,281,639,000 | -29% |
| 15. | Brazil | $4,907,613,000 | -7.3% |
| 16. | Ghana | $4,850,214,000 | -8.2% |
| 17. | Uzbekistan | $4,110,300,000 | +0.01% |
| 18. | Italy | $3,786,813,000 | -10.7% |
| 19. | Burkina Faso | $3,372,517,000 | -13.9% |
| 20. | China | $3,281,252,000 | +4.3% |
| 21. | Mexico | $3,098,804,000 | -9.2% |
| 22. | Bolivia | $3,003,219,000 | +18.7% |
| 23. | Colombia | $2,931,044,000 | -6.4% |
| 24. | Tanzania | $2,835,094,000 | +3.4% |
| 25. | Guinea | $2,775,787,000 | -52.1% |
| 26. | Austria | $2,589,270,000 | +22.8% |
| 27. | Spain | $2,568,696,000 | +30.6% |
| 28. | France | $1,935,249,000 | +18.2% |
| 29. | Ivory Coast | $1,913,284,000 | +11.7% |
| 30. | Suriname | $1,879,459,000 | +1.3% |
| 31. | Papua New Guinea | $1,682,463,000 | +551.6% |
| 32. | Mali | $1,681,777,000 | -81.4% |
| 33. | Egypt | $1,608,243,000 | +45.8% |
| 34. | Dominican Republic | $1,377,807,000 | -24.8% |
| 35. | South Korea | $1,300,343,000 | +87% |
| 36. | Belgium | $1,289,238,000 | +7.4% |
| 37. | Mauritania | $1,169,249,000 | +260.9% |
| 38. | Mongolia | $1,104,153,000 | +9.9% |
| 39. | Taiwan | $1,075,964,000 | +33.2% |
| 40. | Philippines | $1,062,980,000 | +11.3% |
| 41. | Türkiye | $1,051,002,000 | -69.8% |
| 42. | Indonesia | $1,027,514,000 | -32.4% |
| 43. | Senegal | $932,842,000 | +112.8% |
| 44. | Nicaragua | $927,424,000 | +6.9% |
| 45. | Argentina | $918,781,000 | +7.4% |
| 46. | Ecuador | $902,809,000 | +57.7% |
| 47. | Sweden | $865,922,000 | +7.4% |
| 48. | Chile | $862,938,000 | -10% |
| 49. | Laos | $851,964,000 | -11.4% |
| 50. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $724,554,000 | +33076% |
| 51. | Uganda | $722,455,000 | -30.1% |
| 52. | Tajikistan | $715,045,000 | +8.2% |
| 53. | Saudi Arabia | $683,228,000 | -36.4% |
| 54. | Rwanda | $454,467,000 | +25.1% |
| 55. | Namibia | $442,688,000 | +0.5% |
| 56. | Armenia | $414,206,000 | +209.6% |
| 57. | New Zealand | $387,703,000 | +14.9% |
| 58. | Guyana | $381,374,000 | -31.3% |
| 59. | Iraq | $326,274,000 | -84.3% |
| 60. | Malaysia | $315,460,000 | +89.2% |
| 61. | Netherlands | $250,766,000 | -16.4% |
| 62. | Cambodia | $231,702,000 | +75.6% |
| 63. | Lebanon | $195,911,000 | -56.6% |
| 64. | Azerbaijan | $185,250,000 | -8.5% |
| 65. | Poland | $170,125,000 | +42.4% |
| 66. | Venezuela | $152,934,000 | +46.7% |
| 67. | Portugal | $152,145,000 | +15.9% |
| 68. | Nigeria | $149,851,000 | +1695% |
| 69. | Norway | $143,573,000 | +13.9% |
| 70. | Croatia | $139,503,000 | +41.4% |
| 71. | Libya | $135,858,000 | -42.5% |
| 72. | Panama | $129,063,000 | +35.9% |
| 73. | Luxembourg | $117,382,000 | +117.7% |
| 74. | Honduras | $115,290,000 | -29.3% |
| 75. | Estonia | $113,474,000 | -16% |
| 76. | Bahrain | $90,481,000 | -55.1% |
| 77. | Czech Republic | $90,278,000 | +62.3% |
| 78. | Kazakhstan | $83,941,000 | +136.1% |
| 79. | Georgia | $81,477,000 | +26.9% |
| 80. | India | $75,276,000 | +1316% |
| 81. | Niger | $70,839,000 | -6.8% |
| 82. | Zambia | $55,423,000 | -16.3% |
| 83. | Hungary | $52,570,000 | -9.2% |
| 84. | Central African Rep | $52,340,000 | +99.4% |
| 85. | Burundi | $51,751,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Fiji | $46,343,000 | -20.6% |
| 87. | Greece | $40,450,000 | +129.2% |
| 88. | Sudan | $36,126,000 | -98.7% |
| 89. | Kenya | $32,454,000 | +109.7% |
| 90. | Slovenia | $29,029,000 | +10.3% |
| 91. | Morocco | $27,615,000 | -31.6% |
| 92. | Denmark | $25,818,000 | +32.3% |
| 93. | Cyprus | $25,239,000 | +32.6% |
| 94. | Botswana | $24,914,000 | -28.8% |
| 95. | Solomon Islands | $22,322,000 | +84.3% |
| 96. | Slovakia | $21,387,000 | -49.4% |
| 97. | Jordan | $19,051,000 | -74.7% |
| 98. | Bulgaria | $18,144,000 | -23.8% |
| 99. | Ireland | $16,589,000 | +4.5% |
| 100. | Serbia | $15,792,000 | -17.6% |
The listed 100 gold exporters accounted for 99.98% of overall exported gold sales for 2022.
Drilling down on these top 100 gold suppliers, the fastest-growing exporters of gold were the Democratic Republic of the Congo (up 33,076% from 2021), Nigeria (up 1,695%), India (up 1,316%), Papua New Guinea (up 551.6%), Mauritania (up 260.9%) then Armenia (up 209.6%).
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 2022.
The unit price per ton for the 100 biggest exporters of gold rose by 18.3% since 2018 but flatlined via a 1.8% increase from 2021 to 2022.
Below, you will find the average price charged per ton of exported gold for some of the biggest exporters of bullion ranked by total dollar value of gold shipments.
- Switzerland: US$57,568,758 per ton of exported gold (down -0.4% from 2021)
- United Kingdom: $57,917,384 per ton (up 0.03%)
- United States: $57,192,758 per ton (down -0.6%)
- Hong Kong: $57,434,672 per ton (up 0.3%)
- Singapore: $55,038,426 per ton (up 8%)
- Canada: $54,257,580 per ton (down -1.2%)
- Japan: $48,346,800 per ton (down -12.6%)
- Peru: $18,185,052 per ton (down -0.1%)
- Russia: $21,775,698 per ton (down -62.1%)
- Germany: $53,415,947 per ton (up 1.1%)
- Thailand: $55,398,772 per ton (up 0.7%)
- South Africa: $57,409,120 per ton (down -1.2%)
- Brazil: $51,120,969 per ton (up 0.4%)
- Uzbekistan: $59,569,565 per ton (up 1.5%)
- Burkina Faso: $58,146,845 per ton (down -0.6%)
The average unit price for the top 15 gold exporters was $50.852 million per ton, much higher than the average $42.236 million pertinent to the 100 biggest bullion exporters.
Gold exports from the listed countries increased by an average 44.2% since 2018 but fell by -4.8% year over year.
The most expensive among the listed gold exporters ranked starting with the highest average unit price per ton are Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, South Africa, then the United States of America.
The lowest unit charges per ton of exported 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 July 21, 2023
Forbes 2018 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 21, 2023
International Trade Centre , Trade Map. Accessed on July 21, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 21, 2023
Wikipedia, Gold. Accessed on July 21, 2023
Wikipedia, Largest gold companies. Accessed on July 21, 2023
