Gold shortage triggered by Trump. February. 12, 2025 07:41. by 이동훈기자, 강우석기자 [email protected].
Global investors are flocking to gold, a traditional safe-haven asset, as U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified tariff wars since his inauguration, raising policy uncertainties. Domestically, the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation (“KOMSCO”) temporarily suspended selling gold as surging gold demand outpaced supply. Internationally, a gold shortage has emerged.
As of Monday at the New York Mercantile Exchange (“COMEX”), the price of April gold futures per ounce closed at 2,934.4 U.S. dollars, breaching 2,900 dollars for the first time in history. The price reached 2,968.2 dollars during the trading session, more than a 10% increase since the beginning of the year and more than a whopping 40% increase year on year.
It is interesting to see a surge in the price of gold, instead of cryptocurrency or stocks, due to President Trump’s indiscriminate tariff bombardment. Fueled by investors’ enthusiasm, the “ACE KRX Gold” ETF, the only spot gold exchange-traded fund in Korea, recorded its net asset worth of 908.6 billion Korean won as of Monday. It is almost a seven-fold increase in net assets compared to the same period last year (130.2 billion won).
There are even signs of gold hoarding driven by fear and anxiety. Some investors are now even shifting to the market in London, the U.K., as the prices for gold spiked in the U.S.
The KOMSCO decided to temporarily stop local sales of gold as the supply conditions worsened. Some domestic banks that sourced gold from the corporation for trading are also being forced to shut down online and counter sales for the time being.
