China gold concentrate imports sink 22% as tax proposal cools market

Gold is down $10 today after hitting a record high yesterday. Reuters is out with a report highlighting a drop in China gold and copper imports due to a potential tax change, citing four sources:

• Gold ore/concentrate imports to China fell 22.4% m/m in September to 201,004.9 MT
• Chinese customs floating plan to put higher taxes on gold products with >58% iron/sulfur, taxing it as pyrite, which is subject to a 1% import tax and 13% VAT
• Proposal being fought by Chinese importers but customs not budging
• Some traders already diverting shipments elsewhere to avoid retroactive tax risk

This isn’t a negative for the gold market as it’s more about refining and processing, though if there are local shortages in physical gold, it could create some kind of domestic premium that hurts buying until the supply chain is sorted out

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.