Perth Mint's February gold sales fall to over 2-yr low

March 8 (Reuters) - Perth Mint's gold product sales in February fell to their lowest in more than two years, while silver sales rose about 20% on the month, the refiner said in a blog post on Wednesday. Monthly sales of gold coins and minted bars dipped 18.9% to 52,241 ounces last month, from 64,395 in January. Silver sales, on the other hand, rose 20.4% on a monthly basis to 1,484,936 ounces. The sales of Australian gold bullion products slowed in February, "to some extent reflected the fact that we did not unveil any new gold investor coins during the month,” Neil Vance, general manager for minted products, said. Benchmark spot gold prices scaled their highest since April 2022 at $1,959.60 per ounce in early February, but soon reversed course. Bullion fell more than 5% last month, its biggest monthly decline since June 2021, pressured by prospects of more rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The refiner on Tuesday said there is no question about the value and purity of gold bars it has sold to customers in China, responding to a media report alleging it could face a potential recall of $9 billion worth of "doped" gold bars. The Perth Mint, owned by the government of Western Australia, is the world's largest producer of newly-mined gold.
Its website claims that it is the biggest refiner by volume in Australasia. The intake each year equates to almost 75% of newly mined gold in Australia, one of the world's biggest gold producers. The following table details Perth Mint's monthly sales including coins and minted bars:

Period Gold (oz) Silver (oz) (year-month)

2023-Feb 52,241 1,484,936

2023-Jan 64,395 1,233,344 2022-Dec 60,634 1,634,751 2022-Nov 114,304 1,315,293 2022-Oct 183,102 1,995,350 2022-Sept 88,554 2,579,941 2022-Aug 84,976 1,655,334 2022-July 79,305 2,465,513 2022-June 65,281 1,523,765 2022-May 98,515 2,217,582 2022-April 80,941 2,119,491 2022-March 121,997 1,649,634 2022-Feb 72,651 1,632,323 2022-Jan 66,709 2,387,165 2021-Dec 54,861 1,733,293 2021-Nov 115,872 1,530,598 2021-Oct 59,750 1,352,275 2021-Sept 98,753 1,789,926 2021-August 53,976 1,467,229 2021-July 70,658 1,302,723 2021-June 72,910 1,823,029 2021-May 91,146 1,700,807 2021-April 101,379 1,798,210 2021-March 130,000 1,600,000 2021-Feb 124,104 1,830,707 2021-Jan 76,103 1,162,884 2020-Dec 76,806 941,767 2020-Nov 84,158 1,119,269 2020-Oct 38,367 1,228,713 2020-Sept 62,637 1,677,383 2020-Aug 67,462 1,431,036 2020-July 56,104 1,567,900 2020-June 44,371 1,573,752 2020-May 63,393 997,171 2020-April 120,504 2,123,121 2020-March 93,775 1,736,409 2020-Feb 22,921 605,634 2020-Jan 48,299 1,450,317 2019-Dec 78,912 1,361,723 2019-Nov 54,261 1,027,695 2019-Oct 32,469 1,394,615 2019-Sept 46,837 1,350,038 2019-Aug 21,766 1,171,233 2019-July 21,518 987,040 2019-June 19,449 344,474 2019-May 10,790 681,582 2019-April 19,991 906,219 2019-March 32,757 935,819 2019-Feb 19,524 584,310 2019-Jan 31,189 828,854 2018-Dec 29,186 692,971 2018-Nov 64,308 876,446 2018-Oct 36,840 1,079,684 2018-Sept 62,552 1,305,600 2018-Aug 38,904 520,245 2018-July 29,921 486,821 2018-June 16,847 229,280 2018-May 14,800 557,120 2018-April 15,161 458,655 2018-March 29,883 975,921 2018-Feb 26,473 992,954 2018-Jan 37,174 1,067,361 2017-Dec 27,009 874,437 2017-Nov 23,901 544,436 2017-Oct 44,618 999,425 2017-Sept 46,415 697,849 2017-Aug 23,130 392,091 2017-July 23,675 1,167,963 2017-June 19,259 1,215,071 2017-May 29,679 826,656 2017-April 10,490 468,977 2017-March 22,232 716,283 2017-Feb 25,257 502,353 2017-Jan 72,745 1,230,867

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)