Tag: GOLD

  • Turkey-Iran: gold for gas US scrutiny

    Turkey-Iran: gold for gas US scrutiny

    Turkey-Iran: gold for gas US scrutiny

    November 28, 2012 4:24 pm by Daniel Dombey

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    More pressure is coming Turkey’s way over gas purchases from Iran.

    After the Turkish government’s admission last week that Tehran was using revenue from gas sales to Ankara to buy gold and then shipping the metal back home, the gas-gold trade has attracted (almost certainly unwelcome) attention from the US Senate.

    Reuters has reported that a group of senators are working on a sanctions package that would, among other things, end Turkey’s “game of gold for natural gas”, according to an aide. The measures could be added to a defence bill before the current US Congress breaks up; if not, the issue is very likely to be on the agenda when its successor convenes in January.

    To be clear: at present Turkey’s natural gas purchases from Iran, its second biggest supplier, are not targeted by sanctions, international or unilateral. The EU is implementing gas sanctions, but they are not extra-territorial, instead governing imports by member states. US sanctions threaten action against banks that facilitate oil purchases from Iran, but Turkey currently has a waiver.

    What is the case, however, is that the general sanctions push over Iran’s nuclear programme, including blacklisting by Swift, which handles global banking transactions, has rendered traditional financial transfers with Tehran near impossible, even for a neighbouring state such as Turkey. Hence Iran’s recourse to gold.

    And, as the US looks for additional leverage over Iran ahead of possible bilateral talks on the nuclear file, Turkey’s gas purchases present an ever bigger target.

    It is worth bearing in mind the scale of the trade – Turkey’s purchases in 2010-11 amounted to some $6bn – and its strategic importance to Ankara, which would otherwise depend even more on gas from Russia, its primary supplier.

    So the sanctions could further test US-Turkish ties, already testy in the light of Ankara’s recent denunciations of Israel and prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s largely fruitless campaign for Washington to do more against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    But Mark Fitzpatrick, a former US State Department official now at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies, thinks there is room for finesse.

    “The [US] executive branch will be looking to implement the sanctions in a way that gives them some discretion, so they don’t punish Turkey in one fell swoop; they can request significant reductions [in Iranian gas purchases] and ‘significant’ won’t be defined,” he says, comparing such a stand to the demands Washington has always made about Chinese oil purchases from Iran. “It is going to play out in the next two years.”

    Nonetheless, he suggests that, as time goes by, pressure is only going to increase on Iranian trading partners such as Turkey: “I have been predicting that the best case outcome for the Iran crisis is a long cold war, where sanctions just keep getting tighter, the Iranians keep the [uranium] enrichment programme going but it never quite reaches the crisis point where it produces nuclear weapons.”

    via Turkey-Iran: gold for gas US scrutiny | beyondbrics.

  • Turkey Acknowledges Gold Exports Tied to Iran Gas Purchases

    Turkey Acknowledges Gold Exports Tied to Iran Gas Purchases

    Loophole in Western Sanctions Allows Iran to Buy Gold in Turkey With Turkish Payments for Gas Imported From Iran

    1349692617BY JOE PARKINSON AND EMRE PEKER

    ISTANBUL—Turkey on Friday acknowledged that a surge in its gold exports this year is related to payments for imports of Iranian natural gas, shedding light on Ankara’s role in breaching U.S.-led sanctions against Tehran.

    The continuing trade deal offers the most striking example of how Iran is using creative ways to sidestep Western sanctions over its disputed nuclear program, which have largely frozen it out of the global banking system.

    The disclosure was made by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister and top economic policy maker Ali Babacan in answers to questions from the parliamentary budget committee.

    via Turkey Acknowledges Gold Exports Tied to Iran Gas Purchases – WSJ.com.

  • Gold and Silver Worth $1.4 Billion Carried In Baggage From Turkey To Iran, UAE and Middle East

    Gold and Silver Worth $1.4 Billion Carried In Baggage From Turkey To Iran, UAE and Middle East

    Turkey’s trade deficit has been shrinking and the country has enjoyed the best bond rally in the emerging markets this year due in part to the contributions of airline passengers transporting gold in their baggage. Statistics from Istanbul’s 2 main airports show $1.4 billion of precious metals were registered for export in September. Iran is Turkey’s largest oil supplier and Turkey has been paying for the oil not only with liras but also with gold bullion. Turkey exported $11.7 billion of gold and precious metals since March, when Iran was barred from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, (Swift) making it nearly impossible for Iran to complete large international fund transfers. Of the $11.7 billion, $10.2 billion or 90% was to Iran and the United Arab Emirates, according to data on Turkey’s state statistics agency’s website. Turkey’s current account deficit is second in the world at $77.1 billion or 10% of GDP while the US currently holds the top spot. The problem with Turkey switching from a net importer to a net exporter of gold bullion this year is that the foreign trade data is misrepresented. Turkey’s use of precious metals is a key factor to help turn around its nation’s current junk bond rating status.

    From Goldcore:

    Today’s AM fix was USD 1,679.00, EUR 1,313.05, and GBP 1,050.82 per ounce.

    Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,708.25, EUR 1,325.77, and GBP 1,061.29 per ounce.

    Silver is trading at $31.05/oz, €24.39/oz and £19.51/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,550.32/oz, palladium at $597.38/oz and rhodium at $1,070/oz.

    Gold dropped $35.70 or 2.08% in New York on Friday and closed at $1,678.00. Silver hit a low of $30.789 and finished with a loss of 4.01%. Gold and silver were down nearly 2% and 3% on the week.

    goldcore bloomberg chart1 05 11 12

    Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)

    Gold edged up a bit on Monday, limiting the fall after the better than expected US jobs number sent the yellow metal downward to a two month low.

    If the US Fed doesn’t need to embark on more stimulus measures this may limit the yellow metal’s appeal with investors who see continuous money printing by central banks as increasing inflation and debasing currencies.

    The US dollar limited gold’s rebound as it hit its highest in 2 months as investors parked money there before the US election.

    This week there is an ECB policy meeting on November 8th and also a key gathering of the Chinese Communist Party.

    US Economic highlights include ISM Services at 1500 GMT today. Wednesday’s data is Consumer Credit, Thursday Initial Jobless Claims and the Trade Balance and Friday Export & Import Prices, Michigan Sentiment, and Wholesale Inventories are published.

    Turkey’s trade deficit has been shrinking and the country has enjoyed the best bond rally in the emerging markets this year due in part to the contributions of airline passengers transporting gold in their baggage.

    Statistics from Istanbul’s 2 main airports show $1.4 billion of precious metals were registered for export in September.

    XAU/USD Currency, 1 Year – (Bloomberg)

    Iran is Turkey’s largest oil supplier and Turkey has been paying for the oil not only with liras but also with gold bullion. Turkey exported $11.7 billion of gold and precious metals since March, when Iran was barred from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, (Swift) making it nearly impossible for Iran to complete large international fund transfers. Of the $11.7 billion, $10.2 billion or 90% was to Iran and the United Arab Emirates, according to data on Turkey’s state statistics agency’s website.

    Turkey’s current account deficit is second in the world at $77.1 billion or 10% of GDP while the US currently holds the top spot.

    The problem with Turkey switching from a net importer to a net exporter of gold bullion this year is that the foreign trade data is misrepresented. Turkey’s use of precious metals is a key factor to help turn around its nation’s current junk bond rating status.

    We mentioned before the government’s efforts to move the $302 billion in privately held gold, into government banks to increase the money supply in the economy.

    “October data will be very critical” as the US urged Turkey not to export gold to Iran or the UAE, “which means indirectly to Iran,” Ozgur Altug, chief economist at BGC Partners in Istanbul, said in an e-mailed report yesterday.

    The increase in precious metal exports accounted for three quarters of the 14% one year gain in total exports in the first nine months, Gulay Girgin, chief economist at Oyak Securities in Istanbul, said in an e-mailed report yesterday.

    “If you look at Turkey’s trade figures without gold, it doesn’t look that great,” Gizem Oztok Altinsac, an economist at Garanti Yatirim, the investment unit for Turkey’s biggest bank, said by phone yesterday. “I think the analysts are paying a lot of attention to this, but at the end of the day, the bottom line is the current-account deficit, and that’s getting better.”

    via Gold and Silver Worth $1.4 Billion Carried In Baggage From Turkey To Iran, UAE and Middle East | SilverDoctors.com.

  • Turkey does not pay gold for Iranian gas, finance minister

    Turkey does not pay gold for Iranian gas, finance minister

    Turkey does not pay for natural gas from Iran in gold, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Thursday.

    Until August, Iran imported large amounts of gold from Turkey before the United Arab Emirates took the lion’s share in the following months, official figures show. However, it is widely speculated that gold exported to the UAE continues on to Iran.

    State-run Halkbank is responsible for the Iranian payment issue, Simsek said, adding that gold exports to Iran are mainly from exchange offices and Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, the traditional heart of the jewelry trade.

    The Central Bank of Iran banned all gold exports without its explicit approval to avoid a shortage of the precious metal, The Associated Press reported.

    A senior Central Bank official, Mohammad Reza Naderi, was quoted by the semi-official Mehr News Agency on Oct. 31 as saying that the new restriction was imposed due to currency fluctuations.

    According to Iranian law, the export of coins made from precious metals previously did not require a permit from the Central Bank, but current economic conditions have resulted in a decision to require Central Bank licenses for the export of such goods, Lebanon’s Daily Star reported.

    Iran’s currency, the rial, lost about 50 percent of its value earlier this month. The currency’s nosedive has been blamed on a combination of government mismanagement and the bite from tightened sanctions imposed regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon.

    Iran denies the charge, insisting its uranium enrichment program is only for peaceful purposes such as fuel generation.

    via Turkey does not pay gold for Iranian gas, finance minister – Tehran Times.

  • Iran Buys Gold From Turkey

    Iran Buys Gold From Turkey

    Council

    world gold.png

    It appears that some inside Turkey and Iran are trying to hide a multibillion dollar gold trade between to the two states, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.

    Apparently, gold traders have been flying the bullion from Turkey to Dubai in their hand luggage and then trading it on to Iran.

    Most of the gold has been legally declared in customs. In August, Turkey exported $1.9 billion to the UAE, according to a Reuters analysis of the latest data available from Turkey’s Statistics Office. In July that figure was just $7 million. It is not clear how much of that gold reaches Iran, but experts in Dubai told Reuters they did not notice any “sudden increase” in gold supply in August and they believe almost all went to Tehran.

    Turkey’s gold exports to Tehran, which had been “fluctuating between $1.2 billion and about $1.8 billion each month since April,” plummeted to $180 million in August.

    Iran appears to be using this method to hide its import of gold from Turkish traders. Sanctions against Iran, mostly stemming from its nuclear ambitions, have isolated it from the global banking industry and have crippled the economy and the value of the Rial. Iranians can use gold, instead of its rapidly declining currency, as a means to transfer their wealth and participate in certain international banking activities that would be prohibited under current sanctions on Iran.

    While the trade does not violate sanctions, the Iranians might want to keep the situation under wraps in order avoid attracting the attention from watchful eyes, especially those of the United States and the United Nations. If gold is added to the sanctions list, it would take away key tool which Iran is using to manage its finances.

    via Iran Buys Gold From Turkey – Business Insider.

  • Iran depends heavily on Turkey for Gold

    Iran depends heavily on Turkey for Gold

    1347866980from Bullion Street:

    Sanctions hit Iran is reported to have piling up gold reserves to face any eventuality and is depending heavily on neighbor Turkey for the purpose.

    Iranians purchased $4.8 billion worth of gold in 2012′s second quarter, up from roughly $1 billion in the first quarter of the year.

    Analysts said deteriorating Iranian economy, as a result of tightening international economic sanctions is seen as a key factor behind the surge in gold exports.

    Turkey’s gold exports to Iran witnessed a surge this year raising questions whether the gold purchases are the latest attempt by Tehran to circumvent increasingly tough international sanctions.

    The surge in gold exports also has been matched by a similarly impressive growth in Iranian businesses opening in Turkey.

    Turkey’s total gold and precious stone exports have amounted in the first seven months of 2012 to nearly $8.9 billion, while the figure was only $1.8 billion in the same period last year.

    via Iran depends heavily on Turkey for Gold « SGTreport – The Corporate Propaganda Antidote – Silver, Gold, Truth, Liberty, & Freedom.