That dollar amount results from a 58.9% gain in value since 2019 when worldwide gold shipments were valued at $303.6 billion.
Year over year, revenues from globally exported gold sales rose 3.2% from $467.2 billion starting in 2022.
The 5 biggest gold exporters in 2023 were Switzerland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. Collectively, revenues for that cohort of major gold exporters approached three-fifths (57.5%) of international gold sales.
Among continents, exporters in European countries placed first for selling the most gold on international markets with shipments valued at $208.5 billion or 43.2% of the worldwide total. In second place, exporters in Asia furnished 29.5% worth of gold exports.
Another 10.3% worth was shipped from North America while 7.2% originated from gold suppliers in Africa.
Providers located in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean came in at 5.3% of worldwide gold sales, trailed by Oceania (4.4%) led by Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for unwrought or semi-manufactured gold is 7108.
Gold Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of gold during 2023.
- Switzerland: US$107.2 billion (22.2%)
- United Kingdom: $65.3 billion (13.5%)
- Hong Kong: $40.3 billion (8.4%)
- United Arab Emirates: $38.3 billion (7.9%)
- United States: $26 billion (5.4%)
- Canada: $20.4 billion (4.2%)
- Australia: $18.8 billion (3.9%)
- Singapore: $12.6 billion (2.6%)
- Japan: $12.5 billion (2.6%)
- Russia: $11 billion (2.3%)
- Uzbekistan: $10.8 billion (2.2%)
- Germany: $10.2 billion (2.1%)
- Peru: $8.4 billion (1.7%)
- Ghana: $7.7 billion (1.6%)
- Thailand: $5.9 billion (1.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 82% of globally exported gold in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing gold exporters from 2022 to 2023 were: Uzbekistan (up 163.4%), Germany (up 45.9%), Canada (up 34.4%) and Hong Kong (up 33.7%).
Those countries that posted double-digit declines in their exported gold sales were: United States of America (down -29.9% from 2022), Singapore (down -19.1%), Thailand (down -12.8%), Russia (down -12.2%) and the United Kingdom (down -10.6%).
For a comprehensive listing of 100 major gold exporters with pertinent statisticsd, please see the section Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries below.
Countries Enjoying Greatest Surpluses Trading Gold
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for gold during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s gold exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: US$17.2 billion (net export surplus down -44.5% since 2022)
- United Arab Emirates: $14.4 billion (reversing a -$23.9 billion deficit)
- Australia: $13.1 billion (up 14%)
- Japan: $12.2 billion (up 15.3%)
- United States of America: $10.9 billion (down -60.3%)
- Canada: $10.9 billion (up 53.7%)
- Russia: $10.85 billion (down -13.1%)
- Uzbekistan: $10.78 billion (up 162.6%)
- Peru: $8.4 billion (up 12.3%)
- Ghana: $7.7 billion (up 17%)
- Germany: $5.3 billion (reversing a -$3.7 billion deficit)
- South Africa: $4.96 billion (up 3.1%)
- Switzerland: $4.92 billion (up 165.7%)
- Burkina Faso: $3.51 billion (up 4.2%)
- Brazil: $3.48 billion (down -29%)
The United Kingdom posted the highest surplus in the international trade of gold among the above top precious metal exporters in 2023. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the UK’s strong competitive advantage in the international trade of the popular precious metal.
Countries Incurring Biggest Deficits Trading Gold
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for gold during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s gold import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- mainland China: -US$88.1 billion (net export deficit up 20% since 2022)
- India: -$42.5 billion (up 16.5%)
- Türkiye: -$25.7 billion (up 32.5%)
- Hong Kong: -$19.5 billion (up 148.6%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$3.7 billion (down -21%)
- Italy: -$3 billion (down -9.9%)
- Malaysia: -$2.2 billion (down -37.3%)
- Thailand: -$2 billion (down -55.5%)
- Indonesia: -$1.8 billion (down -29.7%)
- Lebanon: -$1.4 billion (up 71.3%)
- Austria: -$1.2 billion (down -68.3%)
- Taiwan: -$528.9 million (down -42%)
- Bangladesh: -$288.7 million (down -54.2%)
- Jordan: -$266.9 million (down -86.9%)
- Vietnam: -$250 million (down -1.6%)
Mainland China incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of gold during 2023. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights the People’s Republic’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for gold-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand among Chinese consumers and businesses.
Searchable List of Gold Exporting Countries in 2023
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. Note that an entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2022 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Gold Exports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Uzbekistan | $10,824,881,000 | +163.4% |
| 2. | Germany | $10,221,900,000 | +45.9% |
| 3. | Canada | $20,432,237,000 | +34.4% |
| 4. | Hong Kong | $40,304,134,000 | +33.7% |
| 5. | Ghana | $7,654,650,000 | +17% |
| 6. | Australia | $18,842,898,000 | +15.1% |
| 7. | Japan | $12,496,257,000 | +14.9% |
| 8. | Peru | $8,373,413,000 | +12.3% |
| 9. | United Arab Emirates | $38,283,188,000 | +7.5% |
| 10. | Switzerland | $107,249,857,000 | +6.9% |
| 11. | United Kingdom | $65,254,268,000 | -10.6% |
| 12. | Russia | $11,020,851,000 | -12.2% |
| 13. | Thailand | $5,938,571,000 | -12.8% |
| 14. | Singapore | $12,566,420,000 | -19.1% |
| 15. | United States | $26,042,732,000 | -29.9% |
| 16. | South Africa | $5,628,751,000 | +6.6% |
| 17. | Türkiye | $4,329,534,000 | +311.9% |
| 18. | mainland China | $4,076,200,000 | +24.2% |
| 19. | Italy | $3,646,067,000 | -3.6% |
| 20. | Burkina Faso | $3,513,007,000 | +4.2% |
| 21. | Brazil | $3,486,260,000 | -29% |
| 22. | Mexico | $3,406,295,000 | +9.9% |
| 23. | Colombia | $3,403,929,000 | +14.4% |
| 24. | Tanzania | $3,058,855,000 | +7.9% |
| 25. | Spain | $2,976,011,000 | +15.9% |
| 26. | France | $2,485,987,000 | +28.4% |
| 27. | Bolivia | $2,482,434,000 | -17.3% |
| 28. | Ivory Coast | $2,353,494,000 | +23% |
| 29. | Austria | $2,300,910,000 | -11.2% |
| 30. | Egypt | $1,828,383,000 | +12.6% |
| 31. | Papua New Guinea | $1,815,028,000 | +4.3% |
| 32. | Armenia | $1,810,596,000 | +337.1% |
| 33. | Zimbabwe | $1,805,477,000 | -9.4% |
| 34. | South Korea | $1,545,929,000 | +18.9% |
| 35. | Ecuador | $1,390,803,000 | +54.1% |
| 36. | Mali | $1,373,636,000 | -55% |
| 37. | Democratic Rep. Congo | $1,365,504,000 | +89.4% |
| 38. | Guinea | $1,288,827,000 | -76.2% |
| 39. | Kyrgyzstan | $1,284,333,000 | +9730% |
| 40. | Mauritania | $1,261,246,000 | +7.9% |
| 41. | Philippines | $1,203,470,000 | +13.2% |
| 42. | Taiwan | $1,181,646,000 | +9.8% |
| 43. | Dominican Republic | $1,175,037,000 | -14.7% |
| 44. | Uganda | $1,169,796,000 | 0% |
| 45. | Suriname | $1,167,321,000 | -45.4% |
| 46. | Nicaragua | $1,128,989,000 | +21.7% |
| 47. | Argentina | $1,115,152,000 | +21.4% |
| 48. | Belgium | $1,023,790,000 | -20.6% |
| 49. | Chile | $1,014,459,000 | +17.6% |
| 50. | Indonesia | $848,317,000 | -17.4% |
| 51. | Saudi Arabia | $838,719,000 | -14.6% |
| 52. | Senegal | $827,126,000 | -11.3% |
| 53. | Cambodia | $825,417,000 | +256.2% |
| 54. | Sweden | $824,817,000 | -4.7% |
| 55. | Mongolia | $738,016,000 | -33.2% |
| 56. | Liberia | $708,866,000 | 0% |
| 57. | Laos | $652,171,000 | -23.5% |
| 58. | Malaysia | $643,792,000 | +104.1% |
| 59. | Namibia | $627,591,000 | +41.8% |
| 60. | Guyana | $581,014,000 | +52.3% |
| 61. | Tajikistan | $467,484,000 | -34.6% |
| 62. | New Zealand | $457,976,000 | +18.1% |
| 63. | Kazakhstan | $430,771,000 | +413.2% |
| 64. | Poland | $271,742,000 | +59.7% |
| 65. | Netherlands | $258,918,000 | +4.2% |
| 66. | Jordan | $201,575,000 | +385.2% |
| 67. | Portugal | $168,593,000 | +9.6% |
| 68. | Azerbaijan | $162,756,000 | -12.1% |
| 69. | Lebanon | $159,247,000 | -18.7% |
| 70. | Norway | $155,323,000 | +8.2% |
| 71. | Luxembourg | $151,035,000 | +73.4% |
| 72. | Iraq | $147,872,000 | -85.6% |
| 73. | Nigeria | $131,362,000 | -12.3% |
| 74. | Honduras | $129,763,000 | +12.6% |
| 75. | Madagascar | $124,793,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Estonia | $103,577,000 | -8.7% |
| 77. | Czech Republic | $97,728,000 | +6.4% |
| 78. | Georgia | $88,722,000 | +8.9% |
| 79. | India | $75,153,000 | -0.2% |
| 80. | Croatia | $68,052,000 | -51.2% |
| 81. | Solomon Islands | $59,199,000 | +165.2% |
| 82. | Hungary | $57,534,000 | +10.3% |
| 83. | Panama | $55,706,000 | -56.8% |
| 84. | Libya | $51,864,000 | -93% |
| 85. | Fiji | $47,118,000 | +1.7% |
| 86. | Zambia | $45,879,000 | -17.2% |
| 87. | Kenya | $33,678,000 | +3.8% |
| 88. | Slovakia | $21,782,000 | +1.8% |
| 89. | Botswana | $20,747,000 | -17% |
| 90. | Mozambique | $20,208,000 | +676.3% |
| 91. | Denmark | $20,166,000 | -18.7% |
| 92. | Bulgaria | $20,036,000 | +10.4% |
| 93. | Slovenia | $19,597,000 | -32.5% |
| 94. | Greece | $19,461,000 | -51.9% |
| 95. | Morocco | $19,370,000 | -29.9% |
| 96. | Costa Rica | $18,753,000 | +92.6% |
| 97. | Vietnam | $17,883,000 | +55.6% |
| 98. | Ireland | $13,741,000 | -14% |
| 99. | Curaçao | $13,195,000 | +2513% |
| 100. | Serbia | $12,578,000 | -20.4% |
The listed 100 gold exporters accounted for 99.97% of overall exported gold sales for 2023.
Drilling down on these top 100 gold suppliers, the fastest-growing exporters of gold were relatively smaller providers. These include Kyrgyzstan (up 9,730% from 2022), Curaçao (up 2,513%), Mozambique (up 676.3%), Kazakhstan (up 413.2%), Jordan (up 385.2%) then Armenia (up 337.1%).
Average Unit Prices for Top Gold Exporters
Calculated based on the top 15 exporters of gold, the average unit price for exported gold was $50.852 million per ton in 2023.
The unit price per ton for the 25 biggest exporters of gold rose by 26.4% since 2019 but flatlined via a -0.7% decrease from 2022 to 2023.
Below, you will find the average price charged per ton of exported gold for 15 of the biggest exporters of bullion ranked by total dollar value of gold shipments.
- Switzerland: US$59,569,565 per ton of exported gold (up 3.5% from 2022)
- United Kingdom: $58,146,845 per ton (up 0.4%)
- Hong Kong: $57,917,384 per ton (up 0.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: $57,568,758 per ton (2022 data unavailable)
- United States of America: $57,434,672 per ton (up 0.4%)
- Canada: $57,409,120 per ton (up 5.7%)
- Australia: $57,192,758 per ton (2022 data unavailable)
- Singapore: $55,398,772 per ton (up 1.3%)
- Japan: $55,038,426 per ton (up 13.8%)
- Russia: $54,257,580 per ton (up 83.7%)
- Uzbekistan: $53,415,947 per ton (down -10.3%)
- Germany: $51,120,969 per ton (down -3.7%)
- Peru: $48,346,800 per ton (up 164.5%)
- Ghana: $21,775,698 per ton (down -56.4%)
- Thailand: $18,185,052 per ton (down -67.2%)
The most expensive among the listed gold exporters ranked starting with the highest average unit price per ton are world-leading Switzerland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Canada and Australia.
The lowest unit charges per ton of exported gold originate from Thailand and Ghana.
Major Gold Exporting Companies
Listed below are the world’s largest gold companies by market capitalization (which shifts often and dramatically due to the fact that many of these businesses are stock companies). Shown within parentheses is the country where the corporation is headquartered.
- Barrick Gold (Canada)
- Newmont Mining (United States)
- Goldcorp (Canada)
- Polyus Gold International (United Kingdom)
- AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa)
- Newcrest Mining (Australia)
- Kinross Gold (Canada)
- Gold Fields Ltd (South Africa)
- Agnico-Eagle Mines (Canada)
- Buenaventura (Peru)
- Harmony Gold (South Africa)
- Randgold Resources (Jersey)
- Yamana Gold (Canada)
See also Gold Imports by Country, Silver Exports by Country, Platinum Exports by Country and Palladium Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 13, 2024
Forbes 2019 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 13, 2024
International Trade Centre , Trade Map. Accessed on July 13, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 13, 2024
Wikipedia, Gold. Accessed on July 13, 2024
Wikipedia, Largest gold companies. Accessed on July 13, 2024
