Press release from Tavex AB: The largest gold trader in the Nordic countries

Gold trading is currently experiencing an explosive demand in Sweden. Swedes turn to gold to shield themselves from the crisis arising from coronavirus and the stock market crash. Tavex AB, which through the Tavex group, is the Nordic region’s largest provider of physical investment gold has faced a significant increase in demand for physical gold and silver in the last few weeks.

We are experiencing tremendous demand and it has been challenging to keep up. The turmoil in the stock market and the coronavirus fear has led Swedes to seek physical gold.

The high demand for physical gold comes at a time when there are logistical problems arising due to closed borders as well as suspension of production by many Swiss gold refineries (like Valcambi, Pamp, Argor-Heraeus) due to the virus threat. These refineries are located in the Swiss canton of Ticino bordering Italy, where the corona outbreak and its effects have been severe. ⁽¹⁾  In today’s scenario, the combination of these factors makes the availability of physical gold harder.

The market price of gold has been fairly high and has not witnessed a steep fall as in the case of the stock market. Gold price in SEK continues to be near an all-time high price of nearly 520 SEK/gram.⁽²⁾
In these times of uncertainty and declines in the stock market, investors have turned to safe-haven assets like gold, which has stood the test of time, as a store of value. The prospect of long-term stability in investment portfolios and a hedge against market volatility has caused more customers to come to Tavex’s stores and web-shop.

Although the gold price in SEK is near all-time highs in SEK terms, on a short-term day to day basis, the price of gold is moving up and down. There is also an explanation for the short-term dip in the price of gold.

When the financial markets – as now – fall very sharply, it is partly because of the computers that control much of the short-term stock speculation. This will result in a loss and it must be covered. To get that money into the account, the investment managers sell the assets that they can sell at short notice. It can for example for gold, although gold usually rises when stocks fall.  When the financial crisis began in 2008, gold also initially dropped from $ 1,000 to $ 760 for 1 ounce (31.1g) in early 2009. But as the financial crisis debuted in 2011, gold set a world record with a price of over 1,900 USD for an ounce, while the world’s stock markets were in ruins.

The demand for gold is high not only in Sweden but in all the countries where Tavex has stores: the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Our customers believe that gold is the best thing to own because we face very uncertain times. People buy investment gold for insurance purposes. At least that’s what the customers tell us. They are afraid of what is going to happen on the other side of the coronavirus. No one has any idea what’s going to happen, and investors suspect that we might wake up to some big financial hangover. And that’s what gold can help against.

Tavex is Northern Europe’s largest provider of physical gold in coins and bars. Tavex has been present in Sweden since 2005 and has offices in 9 countries in Europe. Tavex sells exclusive products such as Krugerrand, American Eagle and Austrian Philharmonic from the world’s leading coin makers as well as bars from respected Swiss refineries such as Valcambi and PAMP. Tavex AB is AAA rated by Bisnode since 2016.

1 ounce of gold right now costs 1624 USD or 16203 SEK. (USDSEK=9,977) ⁽²⁾

Gold Manager Juha Miettinen is happy to answer questions on telephone 086782030 or tavex@tavex.se

^{(1)https://www.reuters.com/article/precious-refining-argor/update-1-three-swiss-gold-refineries-suspend-production-due-to-virus-threat-idUSL8N2BG3ZJ}

^{(2) https://tavex.se/en/live-charts-gold-silver/ ((at the time of writing 2020-03-20 at 11:08, UTC+1))}