Year over year, gold imports increased by 0.1% from 2018 to 2019.
From a continental perspective, European countries bought the highest dollar worth of imported gold during 2019 with purchases valued at $145.5 billion or 47.2% of the global total. In second place were Asian importers at 45.7% while 5.1% of international gold buys were delivered to North America. Smaller percentages arrived in Oceania (1.6%), Africa (0.2%) and Latin America (0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
The 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for gold is 7108.
Gold Imports by Country
Top 15
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019.
- United Kingdom: US$70.8 billion (23.1% of total gold imports)
- Switzerland: $60.7 billion (19.8%)
- China: $43.9 billion (14.3%)
- India: $32.2 billion (10.5%)
- Hong Kong: $14 billion (4.6%)
- Turkey: $11.2 billion (3.7%)
- Singapore: $10.1 billion (3.3%)
- United States: $9.7 billion (3.2%)
- Thailand: $7 billion (2.3%)
- United Arab Emirates: $6.8 billion (2.2%)
- Canada: $5.7 billion (1.9%)
- Italy: $5.3 billion (1.7%)
- Australia: $4.7 billion (1.5%)
- Germany: $4.4 billion (1.4%)
- Malaysia: $2.4 billion (0.8%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for gold since 2015 were: Singapore (up 392.7%), United Kingdom (up 278.4%), Turkey (up 227.8%) and Australia (up 60.8%).
Those countries that posted declines in their imported gold purchases were led by: United Arab Emirates (down -73.5%), Hong Kong (down -61.4%), Malaysia (down -15.7%) and Switzerland (down -15%).
The listed 15 countries purchased 94.3% of all gold imported in 2019.
For a comprehensive listing, please see Searchable List of Gold Importing Countries below.
UK
Gold Imports into United Kingdom
United Kingdom’s global purchases of imported gold totaled US$70.8 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the UK imported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- Switzerland: US$18.6 billion (up 1,965% from 2015)
- United States: $11.1 billion (up 183.7%)
- Canada: $11 billion (up 117.7%)
- Australia: $8.4 billion (up 2,625%)
- Russia: $5.2 billion (up 7,733%)
- South Africa: $3.8 billion (up 64.2%)
- Uzbekistan: $2.3 billion (no 2015 data)
- Hong Kong: $2.2 billion (up 4,828%)
- Japan: $1.8 billion (up 304%)
- Mexico: $1.1 billion (up 431.1%)
- Turkey: $1.1 billion (up 0.9%)
- Germany: $927.6 million (up 259%)
- Kyrgyzstan: $796.5 million (no 2015 data)
- Brazil: $747.7 million (up 5.5%)
- Spain: $716 million (up 23%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 98.7% of gold imported by United Kingdom in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of gold to United Kingdom since 2015 were: Russia (up 7,733%), Hong Kong (up 4,828%), Australia (up 2,625%) and Switzerland (up 1,965%).
Overall, the value of United Kingdom’s imported gold increased by an average 278.4% from all supplying countries since 2015 when gold purchased cost $18.7 billion.
Switzerland
Gold Imports into Switzerland
Switzerland’s global purchases of imported gold totaled US$60.7 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Switzerland imported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- United Arab Emirates: US$6.9 billion (up 135.2% from 2015)
- United Kingdom: $6.2 billion (down -75.1%)
- Thailand: $4.5 billion (up 187.9%)
- United States: $3.2 billion (down -55.6%)
- Italy: $2.9 billion (up 29.7%)
- Germany: $2.8 billion (up 16%)
- Uzbekistan: $2.6 billion (up 38.5%)
- France: $2.6 billion (up 50.7%)
- Ghana: $2.4 billion (up 84.6%)
- South Africa: $2.2 billion (up 24%)
- Peru: $2.1 billion (down -28.6%)
- Burkina Faso: $1.7 billion (up 72.2%)
- Hong Kong: $1.7 billion (up 102%)
- Argentina: $1.5 billion (up 29%)
- Mali: $1.3 billion (up 162.9%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 73.4% of gold imported by Switzerland in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of gold to Switzerland since 2015 were: Thailand (up 187.9%), Mali (up 162.9%), United Arab Emirates (up 135.2%) and Hong Kong (up 102%).
Three top suppliers experienced declines in the value of their gold supplied to Swiss importers: United Kingdom (down -75.1%), United States (down -55.6%) and Peru (down -28.6%).
Overall, the value of Switzerland’s imported gold fell by an average -15% from all supplying countries since 2015 when gold purchased cost $71.3 billion.
China
Gold Imports into the People’s Republic of China
China’s global purchases of imported gold totaled US$43.9 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which China imported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2018 (2015 data unavailable for China).
- Switzerland: US$15.3 billion (down -15.9% from 2018)
- Australia: $7.5 billion (down -8.6%)
- South Africa: $6.1 billion (down -8.2%)
- Singapore: $4.9 billion (up 156.9%)
- Canada: $4.5 billion (down -2%)
- Hong Kong: $2.8 billion (up 30.6%)
- Germany: $643.3 million (up 249.9%)
- China: $491.4 million (down -13.1%)
- Japan: $333.8 million (up 23.4%)
- United Arab Emirates: $219.7 million (up 233.7%)
- South Korea: $210.2 million (up 153.8%)
- Russia: $63.1 million (up 821.9%)
- Democratic Rep. Congo: $42.9 million (up 6.5%)
- Italy: $26.9 million (up 155.6%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 98.1% of gold imported by China in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of gold to China since 2018 were: Russia (up 821.9%), Taiwan (up 414.2%), Germany (up 249.9%) and United Arab Emirates (up 233.7%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their gold supplied to Chinese importers included: Switzerland (down -15.9%), China (down -13.1%), Australia (down -8.6%) and South Africa (down -8.2%).
Overall, the value of China’s imported gold dropped by an average -4.1% from all supplying countries since 2018 when gold purchased cost $45.8 billion.
India
Gold Imports into India
India’s global purchases of imported gold totaled US$32.2 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which India imported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country since 2015.
- Switzerland: US$15.1 billion (down -19.6% from 2015)
- United Arab Emirates: $3.5 billion (down -6.5%)
- Ghana: $2.1 billion (down -31%)
- Peru: $1.8 billion (up 302.7%)
- South Africa: $1.7 billion (down -1.1%)
- United States: $1.6 billion (down -35.7%)
- Bolivia: $881.4 million (up 371.3%)
- United Kingdom: $859.3 million (up 200.4%)
- Burkina Faso: $682 million (up 167.2%)
- Tanzania: $544.5 million (up 0.9%)
- Dominican Republic: $460.4 million (down -7.6%)
- Australia: $441.4 million (down -55.4%)
- Brazil: $407.7 million (up 69.5%)
- Colombia: $405 million (down -10.6%)
- Hong Kong: $374 million (up 1275.1%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 96% of gold imported by India in 2019.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of gold to India since 2015 were: Hong Kong (up 1,275%), Bolivia (up 371.3%), Peru (up 302.7%) and United Kingdom (up 200.4%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their gold supplied to Indian importers included: Australia (down -55.4%), United States (down -35.7%), Ghana (down -31%) and Switzerland (down -19.6%).
Overall, the value of India’s imported gold declined by an average -8.2% from all supplying countries since 2015 when gold purchased cost $35 billion.
Searchable List of Gold Importing Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. The right-most column showcases the percentage change in value of imported gold from 2015 to 2019. A value of 0% in that column means that 2015 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Importer | Gold Imports (US$) | 2018-19 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | United Kingdom | $70,790,587,000 | +176.9% |
| 2. | Switzerland | $60,674,360,000 | -4.2% |
| 3. | China | $43,931,878,000 | -4.1% |
| 4. | India | $32,161,590,000 | +0.9% |
| 5. | Hong Kong | $13,966,622,000 | -40.9% |
| 6. | Turkey | $11,230,798,000 | -0.6% |
| 7. | Singapore | $10,092,994,000 | -25.4% |
| 8. | United States | $9,685,384,000 | +0.5% |
| 9. | Thailand | $7,028,884,000 | -38.6% |
| 10. | United Arab Emirates | $6,760,085,000 | -75.6% |
| 11. | Canada | $5,700,415,000 | +18.1% |
| 12. | Italy | $5,262,529,000 | +29.8% |
| 13. | Australia | $4,708,228,000 | +2.7% |
| 14. | Germany | $4,402,191,000 | -8% |
| 15. | Malaysia | $2,406,865,000 | -19.2% |
| 16. | Saudi Arabia | $2,331,478,000 | -25.7% |
| 17. | Azerbaijan | $2,111,983,000 | +159.1% |
| 18. | Indonesia | $1,887,912,000 | -11.4% |
| 19. | Cambodia | $1,804,966,000 | +259.1% |
| 20. | Taiwan | $1,250,817,000 | -20.7% |
| 21. | France | $1,086,489,000 | +11.2% |
| 22. | Belgium | $937,236,000 | +21.8% |
| 23. | Austria | $884,491,000 | -50.5% |
| 24. | South Korea | $884,101,000 | -12.8% |
| 25. | Qatar | $336,140,000 | -10.6% |
| 26. | South Africa | $328,642,000 | +17.5% |
| 27. | Kazakhstan | $276,542,000 | +3,080% |
| 28. | Bangladesh | $268,143,000 | -59.1% |
| 29. | Spain | $252,520,000 | +113.2% |
| 30. | Czech Republic | $202,362,000 | -19.5% |
| 31. | Cayman Islands | $172,869,000 | +1,110% |
| 32. | Slovakia | $162,453,000 | +7.1% |
| 33. | Lebanon | $158,112,000 | -77% |
| 34. | Netherlands | $148,885,000 | -39.8% |
| 35. | Poland | $131,285,000 | -8.9% |
| 36. | Vietnam | $126,930,000 | -14% |
| 37. | Japan | $124,043,000 | -55.1% |
| 38. | Armenia | $114,499,000 | +30.7% |
| 39. | Philippines | $104,050,000 | -19.7% |
| 40. | Mexico | $100,033,000 | -31.4% |
| 41. | Iran | $93,531,000 | 0% |
| 42. | Ireland | $78,210,000 | -20.5% |
| 43. | Estonia | $69,288,000 | +10% |
| 44. | Nepal | $62,193,000 | -77.7% |
| 45. | Pakistan | $60,053,000 | +221.7% |
| 46. | Luxembourg | $56,912,000 | +76.5% |
| 47. | Myanmar (Burma) | $55,331,000 | +5,533,000% |
| 48. | Egypt | $47,992,000 | -86% |
| 49. | Jordan | $46,592,000 | -80.5% |
| 50. | Portugal | $46,378,000 | +32.2% |
| 51. | Sweden | $42,282,000 | -20% |
| 52. | New Zealand | $42,225,000 | +47.4% |
| 53. | Mauritania | $41,339,000 | 0% |
| 54. | Oman | $38,763,000 | -89.8% |
| 55. | Hungary | $35,230,000 | +4.9% |
| 56. | Slovenia | $32,503,000 | -42.5% |
| 57. | Morocco | $32,173,000 | +71.2% |
| 58. | Ukraine | $28,658,000 | +70.3% |
| 59. | Finland | $25,075,000 | +4% |
| 60. | Croatia | $20,704,000 | +3.8% |
| 61. | Dominican Republic | $18,682,000 | -36.1% |
| 62. | Tunisia | $17,292,000 | -19.5% |
| 63. | Mauritius | $16,499,000 | -40.2% |
| 64. | Russia | $15,811,000 | +38.6% |
| 65. | Israel | $15,400,000 | -14.3% |
| 66. | Denmark | $14,424,000 | +10.6% |
| 67. | Bulgaria | $12,875,000 | +72.9% |
| 68. | Uzbekistan | $12,396,000 | +32.7% |
| 69. | Brazil | $10,572,000 | +98.8% |
| 70. | Macao | $9,670,000 | 0% |
| 71. | Greece | $9,357,000 | -13% |
| 72. | Laos | $9,122,000 | -85.3% |
| 73. | Serbia | $8,484,000 | +176.8% |
| 74. | Lithuania | $6,184,000 | +11.7% |
| 75. | Norway | $5,954,000 | -14.4% |
| 76. | Belarus | $5,096,000 | 0% |
| 77. | Chile | $4,727,000 | +3,481% |
| 78. | Malta | $4,458,000 | -14.5% |
| 79. | Sri Lanka | $4,048,000 | -99.3% |
| 80. | Andorra | $2,511,000 | -56.3% |
| 81. | Kuwait | $2,446,000 | -99.6% |
| 82. | Cyprus | $1,976,000 | -5.5% |
| 83. | Guatemala | $1,947,000 | +5% |
| 84. | Peru | $1,686,000 | -49.7% |
| 85. | Senegal | $1,484,000 | +5.5% |
| 86. | Algeria | $1,267,000 | +3,987% |
| 87. | Costa Rica | $1,085,000 | +123.3% |
| 88. | British Virgin Islands | $952,000 | -40.5% |
| 89. | Iceland | $917,000 | +165% |
| 90. | Romania | $915,000 | +130.5% |
| 91. | Panama | $811,000 | -77.7% |
| 92. | Trinidad/Tobago | $503,000 | -61.2% |
| 93. | Bahrain | $395,000 | -99.9% |
| 94. | Bolivia | $382,000 | -81.7% |
| 95. | French Polynesia | $327,000 | +14.7% |
| 96. | Ghana | $297,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Latvia | $277,000 | -90.6% |
| 98. | Kyrgyzstan | $271,000 | +12% |
| 99. | Albania | $267,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Cuba | $258,000 | +855.6% |
| 101. | Mali | $242,000 | +1,110% |
| 102. | Bhutan | $201,000 | -94.6% |
| 103. | Seychelles | $170,000 | +314.6% |
| 104. | Moldova | $143,000 | +694.4% |
| 105. | Aruba | $118,000 | +2,260% |
| 106. | Brunei Darussalam | $109,000 | +240.6% |
| 107. | Honduras | $108,000 | +248.4% |
| 108. | North Macedonia | $95,000 | +533.3% |
| 109. | Montenegro | $71,000 | +255% |
| 110. | Colombia | $70,000 | +288.9% |
| 111. | New Caledonia | $64,000 | +4.9% |
| 112. | Afghanistan | $58,000 | 0% |
| 113. | Uganda | $41,000 | -100% |
| 114. | Vanuatu | $35,000 | +20.7% |
| 115. | Ecuador | $28,000 | 0% |
| 116. | Guyana | $27,000 | 0% |
| 117. | Fiji | $25,000 | +1,150% |
| 118. | Iraq | $22,000 | -100% |
| 119. | Gibraltar | $21,000 | -83.3% |
| 120. | Curaçao | $19,000 | -71.2% |
| 121. | Argentina | $15,000 | -48.3% |
| 122. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $14,000 | -80.6% |
| 123. | Mongolia | $13,000 | -87.7% |
| 124. | Burkina Faso | $11,000 | +10% |
| 125. | Papua New Guinea | $10,000 | -50% |
| 126. | Bahamas | $9,000 | -92% |
| 127. | Uruguay | $9,000 | +350% |
| 128. | Zambia | $7,000 | -63.2% |
| 129. | Saint Kitts/Nevis | $6,000 | -60% |
| 130. | Nigeria | $4,000 | 0% |
| 131. | Saint Lucia | $3,000 | 0% |
| 132. | Benin | $3,000 | 0% |
| 133. | Sudan | $3,000 | -99.7% |
| 134. | Faroe Islands | $2,000 | -33.3% |
| 135. | Cook Islands | $2,000 | -97.9% |
| 136. | Antigua/Barbuda | $2,000 | +100% |
| 137. | Namibia | $2,000 | -60% |
| 138. | Nicaragua | $2,000 | -98.7% |
| 139. | Maldives | $1,000 | -93.3% |
| 140. | Barbados | $1,000 | 0% |
| 141. | Bermuda | $1,000 | -80% |
| 142. | Georgia | $1,000 | -75% |
| 143. | Eswatini | $1,000 | 0% |
See also Gold Exports by Country, Switzerland’s Top Trading Partners and United Kingdom’s Top 10 Imports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on May 4, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 4, 2020
Wikipedia, Gold. Accessed on May 4, 2020
