Swiss Gold Trade (BAZG)
Switzerland's monthly gold imports and exports by partner country, from Swiss customs (BAZG). As the main refining hub, Swiss flows reveal where physical gold is moving (e.g. to China and India).
- CH → US surge → COMEX demand, U.S. tightness, tariff/arbitrage moves.
- UK → CH surge → London 400oz bars sent for refining into kilo bars.
- CH → CN / CH → IN surge → strong Asian physical demand.
Professional cross-signal: CME stocks falling + CH → CN rising + UK → CH rising ⇒ gold likely moving London → Swiss refinery → Asia.
Swiss Foreign Trade in Gold — Key Flows
Monthly data published by BAZG via I14Y at https://www.i14y.admin.ch
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About this data
Swiss customs (BAZG) publishes monthly gold imports and exports by partner country, in kilograms and Swiss francs. Switzerland mines no gold of its own but refines a large share of the world's supply, so its trade data is the clearest public record of where physical bullion is moving: London 400-ounce bars come in from the UK, and kilo bars go out to China, India, the US and elsewhere. This page charts the four flows that matter most, Switzerland to the US, to China and to India, and the UK to Switzerland, plus a top-partners breakdown for gold, silver and coins. Rising UK-to-Switzerland imports alongside rising exports to Asia usually mean metal is draining out of London vaults toward Eastern demand.
Source: Swiss Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), foreign-trade statistics by partner country, monthly, with the prior month's figures published around the 20th of each month. WatchGold ingests the gold series from the I14Y open-data platform a few days after release.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does Switzerland import and export so much gold?
- Because it is the world's refining hub. Four large refineries, Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, PAMP and Metalor, take in dore from mines, scrap, and London Good Delivery bars, and recast them into the kilo bars and smaller products that Asian markets and retail buyers want. Most of that metal is re-exported within weeks, so Swiss imports and exports are large and roughly balanced, and the mix of partners reveals who is buying physical gold.
- When is Swiss gold trade data published and in what units?
- BAZG releases the previous month's foreign-trade figures around the 20th of each month, broken down by commodity, direction and partner country, with quantities in kilograms and values in Swiss francs. WatchGold pulls the gold series from the federal I14Y open-data platform a few days later, so a month's flows typically appear here about a month after the month ends. The chart converts kilograms to tonnes in the tooltip.
- What does a surge in Swiss gold exports to the United States mean?
- Usually a COMEX story rather than retail demand. Gold flows from Switzerland to New York when US futures trade rich to London spot, which pays banks to ship kilo and 100-ounce bars into CME-approved vaults, as happened on a record scale in early 2025 when tariff fears blew out the EFP. Read the Switzerland-to-US line together with CME warehouse stocks: the two rise together when the arbitrage is open and fade once the premium closes.