The US Mint has reported it sold 85,500 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in the first 12 days of January 2012.

January 14, 2012 – While gold coins are selling like hot cakes in the United States, there is indication that buying in Asia has heated up again, make the coins a more valuable commodity and bolstering the price going forward. The US Mint has reported it sold 85,500 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in the first 12 days of January 2012. Pretty good start to the year. Given, the US Mint sold 2,009,000 ounces of American Eagle silver coins in December 2011 and 4,597,000 in January 2012 so far. The market for gold coins is heating up.

Precious metal consumption in Asia had cool slightly in the fourth quarter of 2011, contributing to the December correction but also as a reaction to the fiscal decisions made regarding the European sovereign debt problem. This is very significant because Asian countries are historically more invested in gold than Western countries. India is the world’s largest consumer of gold jewelry because in that culture gold jewelry is a form of wealth storage.

China has been encouraging its citizens to invest in gold, specifically after key announcements by the Federal Reserve and central banks. Clearly, the Asian nation doesn’t trust the monetary policy or the plans undertaken to salvage the solvency of the European Union and, given that they have refused to bail out any European nation, they are taking steps to hedge themselves for the future of Europe, whatever that may be.

Gold traders are the most bullish in two months as mainland China imported the most metal ever from Hong Kong. This, as investors are buying US Mint bullion coins at the fastest pace we’ve seen in more than two years. China imported 102.8 metric tons in November, or around $5.4 billion.

This massive increase in buying is definitely a sign of things to come. Both in Asia and in the West where the US Mint is very busy keeping up with orders for bullion, investors are rightfully flocking to gold coins in 2012 as we are looking at the fundamentals for a long-term bull market unfolding, bring a return on any investment in gold you make.

Kevin Johnson

Senior Staff Writer – GoldCoin.net