Examining US trade data, we were surprised to see that South Africa’s $402 million trade surplus with the United States in January had turned into a $689 million deficit by March. Why?

It turns out the $1.1 billion swing is entirely due to unusual shipments of gold from the US to South Africa in February and March. So far this year, 20,013 kg of unwrought gold, worth $982 million, has left John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in New York, for somewhere in South Africa, according to the US Census Bureau’s foreign trade division. (Unwrought gold includes bars created from scrap as well as cast bars, but not bullion, jewelry, powder, or currency.)

The shipments from JFK were the only unwrought gold to leave the US for South Africa in 2013; another large shipment occurred in September 2012.

South Africa has an enormous mining industry, and a lot of the material leaves the country–$1.72 billion worth of precious stones and metals were exported in March according to the South African Revenue Service. Although the country’s gold output has been falling steadily for decades, it remains one of the world’s largest producers and is still primarily an exporter. In fact ordinary South Africans are legally prohibited from importing or owning unwrought gold. (Refiners, dealers, and jewelers are granted licenses.)

Continue reading at:  http://qz.com/83396/1-billion-of-gold-has-been-shipped-from-new-yor...