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July 2 (Reuters) - The Perth Mint's sales of gold products in June increased about 14 percent from May sales, while silver sales fell about 60 percent from the prior month, the mint said on Monday.
Sales of gold coins and minted bars climbed to 16,847 ounces in June, up from a 13-month low of 14,800 ounces reported in May, the mint said in a blog post.
However, gold sales in June were down 12.5 percent compared with the same month last year.
Spot gold prices XAU= dropped 3.5 percent in June in their biggest monthly decline since November 2016. GOL/
The Perth Mint refines more than 90 percent of the newly mined gold in Australia, the world's second-largest gold producer after China.
The mint's silver sales in June fell to the lowest since at least January 2016 at 229,280 ounces, down from 557,120 ounces in May, and posted an over 80 percent decline compared with the year-ago period.
"Generally during summer there's always a lack of interest for precious metals so it's no different for Perth mint. Demand will spike during the end of the year because they have new coins that they release then," said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.
Higher prices for silver in June had also caused lack of demand for the precious metal, Lan said.
In June, spot silver XAG= hit a near 2-month high of $17.31 an ounce.
Period
Gold (oz)
Silver (oz)
(year-month)
2018-June
16,847
229,280
2018-May
14,800
557,120
2018-April
15,161
458,655
2018-March
29,883
975,921
2018-Feb
26,473
992,954
2018-Jan
37,174
1,067,361
2017-Dec
27,009
874,437
2017-Nov
23,901
544,436
2017-Oct
44,618
999,425
2017-Sept
46,415
697,849
2017-Aug
23,130
392,091
2017-July
23,675
1,167,963
2017-June
19,259
1,215,071
2017-May
29,679
826,656
2017-April
10,490
468,977
2017-March
22,232
716,283
2017-Feb
25,257
502,353
2017-Jan
72,745
1,230,867
2016-Dec
63,420
430,009
2016-Nov
54,747
984,622
2016-Oct
79,048
1,084,213
2016-Sept
58,811
1,031,858
2016-Aug
14,684
376,461
2016-July
16,870
693,447
2016-June
31,368
1,220,817
2016-May
21,035
974,865
2016-April
47,542
1,161,766
2016-March
47,948
1,756,238
2016-Feb
37,063
1,049,062
2016-Jan
47,759
1,473,408