About 5.7 tonnes of Russian gold, worth $324 million, were imported by Switzerland in August, according to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Service. This is the highest level of Russian gold imports since April 2020.
Swiss customs authorities informed on September 20 that the Russian gold lot came from the UK. Swiss customs data confirms where gold is last refined, not where it is transported last, Bloomberg noted.
Russian gold has become a banned item since the Ukraine conflict earlier this year. Swiss customs noted that new Russian gold has been sanctioned by the US, EU and Switzerland, but gold bars exported from Russia before August 4 are not subject to an import ban.
Some investors with old Russian gold bars may want to re-melt them at Swiss refineries to make them easier to sell.
Russia - the world's second largest gold producer - was previously the main supplier of new gold bullion to the UK market.
China is still importing Russian gold despite its relatively low quantity. The country bought 0.3 tonnes of gold from Russia in August, a fraction of its total 182 tonnes of monthly gold imports.
