Physical gold and silver inventory watch

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ancona said:
Wow! That's a big inventory change for them. I wonder if someone is panick buying?
Click to expand...

Holy shit! Wait until you see today's report!

The following report details changes from 10/30 @ ~9am to 10/31 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 66 to 15. Perth (-20), JM (-15), Pamp (-20), generic no assay (+4).
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 2156 to 659. Apmex (-3), Pamp (-323), Pamp YotD (-2), Credit Suisse (-207), Perth (-326), Heraeus (-509), Argor-Heraeus (-89), generic with assay (-17), generic no assay (-15)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 314 to 291. RCM (-13), JM "new" (-6), Englehard secondary market (-5), JM secondary market (-2)

That is the by far - and I mean outer space relative "far" - the largest ~24 hour reduction in inventory for gold bars I've seen since I've been tracking. I thought perhaps it might be that Apmex pulled inventory because of supply chain/distribution/warehousing concerns over Sandy, so I did a live chat with one of their operators to ask about it:
Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Cindy'

Cindy: Thank you for contacting APMEX, my name is Cindy ... and you can reach me directly at .... How may I help you today?

pmbug: Hi Cindy, good morning. I was wondering if Storm Sandy was affecting Ampex business at all - ie. delaying shipment of orders.

Cindy: It could for those areas. Do you have an order you'd like me to check on?

pmbug: No, not yet. I understand that shipping *to* the north east could be problematic. I guess I was really asking if Apmex is shipping *from* the northeast and therefore subject to issues in getting packages shipped out (I'm in Texas).

Cindy: We ship from Oklahoma as this is where we are located. Would you like me to complete an order for you today?

pmbug: OK. Thanks. I will continue browsing/shopping before making an order. Cheers.

Cindy: You're welcome to call me directly when you're ready to complete your order.
Click to expand...

I checked the Tulving website and I'm not seeing any indication of sold out inventory. Hard to say if this Apmex report is indicative of real buying demand or an outlier for one mysterious reason or another.

Note: To put this in perspective, Apmex is showing a 77% reduction in inventory for 10 ozt gold bars and a 69% reduction in inventory for 1 ozt gold bars within the last 24 hours.
 
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I wonder if this is a data error? In the individual items that show large drops, do they have an inventory of zero or non-zero?
 
Inventory of all items mentioned is still non-zero.
 
PMBug said:
Inventory of all items mentioned is still non-zero.
Click to expand...

That is actually much more interesting and increases the odds (in my mind) that these numbers really do reflect large purchases. It should be interesting in the coming week or two to see how fast Apmex can restock their low supply level.
:popcorn:
 
I will say that after monitoring these numbers daily for almost a year now, Apmex tends to add inventory in regular sized chunks - 5 or 10 bars for 10 ozt gold, multiples of 50 bars (100 especially) for 1 ozt gold and multiples of 25 bars for 100 ozt silver. The gold reductions could be indicative of inventory being sold to another dealer perhaps. The 10 ozt gold looks especially suspicious in this regards. For 1 ozt gold, I could see Pamp (-300 or -250), Credit Suisse (-200 or -150), Perth (-300), Hereaus (-500) as being wholesale market related and the balance retail. Even so, it is unusual for Apmex to offload so much inventory in this manner (from what I have been able to see over the last year anyway).
 
I'll call my local dealer (largest in Switzerland) and chat about demand with him. He also processes large physical orders for ETFs (400oz standard bars), so he should know when something is up in Europe, too. Zürich is the European pm ETF hub for those ETFs who have a credible storage concept (unlike GLD and SLV).
Additionally, I'll call up a friend who got contacts with Europe's major gold refiner, Valcambi SA ( http://www.valcambi.com/ ).
 
My local dealer says that quite significant orders (above average) came in over the last days, but nothing stratospheric. Customers were mainly institutionals btfd. ETF business seems to be subdued.
Supply is rather tight, re-stocking takes careful planning in advance, but delivery times haven't gone up dramatically.
 
BTW, that's 2,007 troy ounces of gold gone in less than 24 hours. Worth approximately $3.5 million.
 
I think countries are quickly buying up all of the PMS. the only pms that are currently going back into the smelters is from people who need money and cash in their pms. soon, as this recession/depression continues people are using up all of their savings and jewlery that can be cashed in. Once the inflow of ps slows( which seems to be happening) the shortage will finally be noticed.
 
Thanks for the heads up Bug.

And thank you for the effort you have put into this generally fairly dull thread, cos now it suddenly is interesting and all thanks to your careful watching and recording.
 
The following report details changes from 10/31 @ ~8am to 11/1 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 15 to 26. Perth (+12), Pamp (-1 sold out)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 659 to 965. Pamp (-33), Pamp YotD (-7), Credit Suisse (-19), Perth (+241), generic with assay (+23), Sunshine V2 (+102)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 291 to 280. Apmex (-7), RCM (-2), JM "new" (-6), Englehard secondary market (-2), JM secondary market (+2)

So far, it appears as if yesterday's report was not a mistake (ie. numbers revised back to levels consistent with the day prior). Sales volume looked more typical over the last 24 hours and Apmex managed to restock some gold bar supply.

Apmex carries their own brand for 100 ozt silver bars. Best I can tell, they haven't produced new 100 ozt silver bars since early August (roughly 3 months ago). 100 ozt silver bar inventories are approaching the low point seen last September.
 
The following report details changes from 11/1 @ ~8am to 11/2 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 26 to 54. Perth (+5), Pamp (+23)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 965 to 1266. Apmex (-9), Pamp (+137), Pamp YotD (-3 sold out), Credit Suisse (+93), Perth (+96), generic with assay (-2), Sunshine V2 (-5)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 280 to 266. Apmex (-2 sold out), RCM (-1), JM "new" (-1), generic secondary market (-2), JM secondary market (-2), JM "vintage pressed" (-5 sold out)

Looks like Apmex is continuing to restock their gold bar supply. Not so much with the 100 ozt silver bars.
 
It's been 3 days since the last report.

The following report details changes from 11/2 @ ~8am to 11/5 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 54 to 34. Perth (-2), Pamp (-19), JM (+1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1266 to 676. Apmex (-8), Pamp (-159 sold out), Credit Suisse (-195 only 3 left), Perth (-113), Heraeus (-15), Argor-Heraeus (-4), generic with assay (-47 sold out), generic no assay (-54), RCM (-3), Sunshine V2 (-3)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 266 to 177. RCM (-43), JM "new" (-9), generic secondary market (+3), Sunshine (-4), JM secondary market (-11), Englehard secondary market (-18), Englehard "struck" (-3), Englehard "bull logo" (-2 sold out)
Looking at the numbers today, I wish I had tracked the inventory over the weekend. There is some heavy buying happening right now apparently. Peeps BTFD with gusto.

There are a couple of "firsts" with todays report:
  • First time ever that Pamp 1ozt gold bars have been completely sold out since I've been tracking. Credit Suisse almost in the same situation (only 3 left in stock).
  • First time ever that inventory of 100ozt silver bars dropped below 200. This is the lowest it's ever been since I've been tracking.
Also of note - the inventory of 1ozt gold (676) is lowest it's been since January 2, 2012 when it was 670.
 
that is interesting indeed... One wonders if all these buyers know something we don't!
 
Bill Haynes of CMI told KWN on Saturday that Friday was a HUGE day for his company, too. Apparently, Monday to Thursday weren't unusual but then buyers stormed in on the dip.
 
PMBug said:
First time ever that Pamp 1ozt gold bars have been completely sold out since I've been tracking. Credit Suisse almost in the same situation (only 3 left in stock
Click to expand...

The fact about CS bars is pretty interesting as they are minted here in Switzerland at Valcambi SA. I'll try to get some information on demand at Valcambi.
 
swissaustrian said:
Bill Haynes of CMI told KWN on Saturday that Friday was a HUGE day for his company, too. Apparently, Monday to Thursday weren't unusual but then buyers stormed in on the dip.
Click to expand...

Here is Haynes' interview:
“We had massive retail buying of gold and silver this week. I would also add the buyers have come flooding in for the past two weeks, but there was literally an enormous surge of buying which took place on the gold and silver takedown on Friday.”
...
Click to expand...

More: http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldn...ing_Surge_Of_Retail_Gold_&_Silver_Buying.html
 
well that would be slightly worrying - did "They" manage to create bubble-less bubble? How else could we explain reported surge of "new investors"??
 
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The following report details changes from 11/5 @ ~7am to 11/6 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 34 to 47. Pamp (+8), JM "pressed" (-2 sold out), JM "poured" (+7)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 676 to 1111. Apmex (+124), Credit Suisse (+270), Perth (+59), Argor-Heraeus (-5), generic no assay (-8), RCM (-2), Sunshine V2 (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 177 to 177. RCM (-22), JM "new" (-7), JM secondary market (+27), Englehard secondary market (+4)
Looks like Apmex was able to restock 10 ozt gold inventory easily. Not so much for 100 ozt silver. They managed to obtain some secondary market bars, but just enough to offset sales volume for the day. For 1 ozt gold, I was surprised to see Pamp still sold out even though they apparently managed to restock Credit Suisse. They claim a Nov. 30 delivery for the Apmex branded 1 ozt gold, so those 124 bars listed aren't actually in stock at the moment. They also raised the premium slightly on the Apmex branded 1 ozt gold bars.
 
The following report details changes from 11/6 @ ~7am to 11/7 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 47 to 36. Pamp (-11)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1111 to 1179. Apmex (-6), Credit Suisse (-5), Perth (+88), generic no assay (-7), RCM (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 177 to 81. RCM (-33 sold out), JM "new" (-2), generic secondary market (-4 sold out), Sunshine (-2), JM secondary market (-35), Englehard secondary market (-20 sold out)
Strong demand still for Pamp 10 ozt gold. Still sold out on the Pamp 1 ozt gold. They managed to restock some Perth 1 ozt gold. Counterintuitively, with high buying demand and (relatively) low inventory, Apmex lowered the premium on Credit Suisse and Perth 1 ozt gold.

Whoa! Sales volume for 100 ozt silver was very strong yesterday (they sold more than half their inventory in 24 hours!). Inventory is now sub-100 and the lowest I've ever seen.
 
The following report details changes from 11/7 @ ~7am to 11/8 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 36 to 32. Pamp (-1 sold out), Perth (-3)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1179 to 1600. Apmex (-46), Credit Suisse (+362), Perth (+129), Heraeus (-5), generic no assay (-10), RCM (-7), Sunshine V2 (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 81 to 278. RCM (+104), JM "new" (+97), JM secondary market (-3 sold out)
Now sold out on the Pamp 1 ozt and 10 ozt gold. They managed to restock Credit Suisse and Perth 1 ozt gold.

They are listing increases in inventory for 100 ozt silver bars now. The RCM bars are listed with a delivery date of Nov 16.
 
The following report details changes from 11/8 @ ~7am to 11/9 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 32 to 47. Perth (+15)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1600 to 1361. Apmex (-18), JM "RNB" (-2), Credit Suisse (-352), Perth (+44), Heraeus (+50), Argor-Heraeus (+44), generic no assay (+2), RCM (-6)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 278 to 253. Apmex (+21), RCM (-48), JM "new" (-8), JM secondary market (+2), Englehard secondary market (+5), Wall Street Mint (+3)
Still sold out on Pamp 1 ozt and 10 ozt gold. Was yesterday's restock of Credit Suisse 1 ozt gold a mistake? Looks likely. Apmex raised the premiums on the Credit Suisse and Perth 1 ozt gold that they had lowered the other day.

Sales volume still looks strong for 100 ozt silver bars.
 
It's been 3 days since the last report.

The following report details changes from 11/9 @ ~7am to 11/12 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 47 to 37. Perth (-6), JM (-4)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1361 to 1494. Apmex (-11), Credit Suisse (+259), Perth (-61), Argor-Heraeus (-7), generic no assay (-14), RCM (-6), Sunshine V2 (-25)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 253 to 312. Apmex (-10), RCM (+76), JM "new" (-5), JM secondary market (-2 sold out)
Still sold out on Pamp 1 ozt and 10 ozt gold.
 
The following report details changes from 11/12 @ ~7am to 11/13 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 37 to 44. JM (+7)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1494 to 1325. Apmex (-14), Credit Suisse (-90), Perth (-20), Heraeus (-2), Argor-Heraeus (-3), generic no assay (-25), RCM (-8), Sunshine V2 (-7)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 312 to 297. RCM (-19), JM "new" (-3), JM secondary market (+6), Englehard secondary market (+2)
Still sold out on Pamp 1 ozt and 10 ozt gold.
 
The following report details changes from 11/13 @ ~7am to 11/14 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 44 to 38. Perth (-5), JM (-1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1325 to 1232. Apmex (-2), Pamp (+4), Credit Suisse (-76), Perth (-3), RCM (-5), Sunshine V2 (-8)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 297 to 319. Apmex (+4), RCM (+31), JM "new" (-16), JM secondary market (-3), Englehard secondary market (+6)
 
The following report details changes from 11/14 @ ~7am to 11/15 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 38 to 33. Perth (-1), JM (-3), generic no assay (-1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1232 to 1118. Apmex (-5), Pamp (-4 sold out again), Credit Suisse (-88), Perth (-8), Argor-Heraeus (-2), RCM (-5), Sunshine V2 (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 319 to 304. Apmex (-1), RCM (-6), JM "new" (-8), JM secondary market (+2), Englehard secondary market (-1)
It looks like sales volume has dropped off a bit.
 
The following report details changes from 11/15 @ ~7am to 11/16 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 33 to 41. Perth (+13), JM (-2), generic no assay (-3)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1118 to 1005. Apmex (-3), Credit Suisse (-82), Perth (-24), Sunshine V2 (-3)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 304 to 250. Apmex (-4), RCM (-34), JM "new" (-4), Sunshine (-4 sold out), JM secondary market (-5 sold out), Englehard secondary market (-3)
Sales volume in 100 ozt silver was very strong yesterday. Peeps BTFD on the huge drop?

Apmex is still sold out of Pamp 1 and 10 ozt gold (one of their more popular brands).
 
The following report details changes from 11/16 @ ~8am to 11/17 @ ~9am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 41 to 46. Perth (-6), JM (+11), generic no assay (-1), Pamp (+1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1005 to 1064. Apmex (-6), Credit Suisse (+131), Perth (-32), Heraeus (-21), Argor-Heraeus (-9), RCM (-3), Sunshine V2 (-1)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 250 to 252. Apmex (-4), RCM (-5), JM "new" (-3), JM secondary market (+8), Englehard secondary market (+6)
 
It's been two days since the last update.

The following report details changes from 11/17 @ ~9am to 11/19 @ ~7am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 46 to 45. Pamp (-1 sold out)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1064 to 901. Apmex (-2), Credit Suisse (-125), Perth (-29), Heraeus (-2), Argor-Heraeus (-5), RCM (-8), Sunshine V2 (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 252 to 233. Apmex (-2), RCM (-2), JM "new" (-3), Englehard secondary market (-12)
 
The following report details changes from 11/19 @ ~7am to 11/20 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 45 to 43. Perth (-3), JM pressed (+1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 901 to 1135. Apmex (+10), Credit Suisse (+235), Perth (-5), JM "TD Bank" (+4), Sunshine V2 (-9)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 233 to 234. Apmex (-4), RCM (-4), JM "new" (-5), Englehard secondary market (-1), JM secondary market (+17)
 
The following report details changes from 11/20 @ ~8am to 11/21 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 43 to 48. Pamp (+7), Perth (-1), generic no assay (-1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1135 to 1440. Apmex (-2), Pamp (+312), Pamp YotD (+68), Credit Suisse (-56), Perth (-9), JM "TD Bank" (-2), Argor-Heraeus (-2), Sunshine V2 (-2)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 234 to 205. JM "new" (-50), Englehard secondary market (+19)
Looks like Apmex finally restocked Pamp gold bars. The 1 ozt Pamp bars are listed as Nov 30 delivery (so they aren't actually in stock yet).

Not sure what to make of the numbers for 100 ozt silver. -50 JM looks like it could be a dealer-dealer (wholesale) move. Odd to do it when inventory is historically low though.
 
PMBug said:
...
That is the by far - and I mean outer space relative "far" - the largest ~24 hour reduction in inventory for gold bars I've seen since I've been tracking. I thought perhaps it might be that Apmex pulled inventory because of supply chain/distribution/warehousing concerns over Sandy, so I did a live chat with one of their operators to ask about it:
...
Click to expand...

Someone @ turd's site claimed that Apmex had a huge insurance claim because their gold vault in NYC got flooded with Sandy. I called an Apmex rep on the phone just a short while ago and he confirmed that Apmex only has a vault in Oklahoma City, where they carry all their inventory. They only have a marketing office in NYC.
 
The following report details changes from 11/21 @ ~8am to 11/22 @ ~9am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 48 to 65. Pamp (+16), JM pressed (+1)
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1440 to 1853. Apmex (-9), Pamp (+276), Pamp YotD (-27), Credit Suisse (+148), Perth (-5), JM "TD Bank" (-2 sold out), RCM (-5), Sunshine V2 (+37)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 205 to 204. RCM (-4), JM "new" (-19), Englehard secondary market (+10), JM secondary market (+6), JM vintage pressed (+3), JM matching serial # (+4)
Looks like they continued to restocked Pamp gold bars (still listed as Nov 30 delivery).

Overall 100 ozt silver inventory remains low although it appears that they are trying to restock various offerings.
 
The following report details changes from 11/22 @ ~9am to 11/23 @ ~8am:
  • 10 ozt gold bars - from 65 to 65.
  • 1 ozt gold bars - from 1853 to 1827. Credit Suisse (-12), Perth (-13)
  • 100 ozt silver bars - from 204 to 203. JM secondary market (-1)
As expected, not much retail buying activity during Thanksgiving holiday.
 
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