Yet another Hacker News

101 points iamnothere 3 hours ago 51 comments

EA-3167 1 hour ago | parent

I doubt the veracity of this article. All previous metal exports from the US, including and not limited to gold, came third in exports as of mid-year.

https://logisticsmaterial.com/trade/americas-biggest-exports...

edit: A better source that uses Census BEA data: https://ustradesignals.com/statistics/exports-by-industry

and says the same thing.

edit2: A third source using different data saying the same thing. https://tradeint.com/insights/us-export-data/#elementor-toc_...

thisisthenewme 1 hour ago | parent

The article that you posted seems to be LLM slop with no references to their claims and the article in the post references data from bea.gov so :shrug:

ceejayoz 1 hour ago | parent

Why'd you trust this particular article?

https://imgur.com/a/bAbAFru

XCSme 1 hour ago | parent

I thought it was tokens

jpollock 1 hour ago | parent

I wonder how much of that are foreign central banks moving their gold reserves out of the USA... France, The Netherlands and Germany have been moving gold.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgyn8q8gqxo

samudrijan 1 hour ago | parent

So not actually productive exports. Just draining the coffers as the criminals in charge loot the commons.

progval 1 hour ago | parent

Do they count as export if the owner doesn't change?

codethief 48 minutes ago | parent

If central banks sell their gold in the US and buy new gold abroad (to save themselves physically transporting the gold across the ocean[0]), I suspect that the demand this creates for gold abroad will ultimately cause US gold exports to rise, too.

[0]: See the link in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50134172

morsch 1 hour ago | parent

France completely exited New York, the Netherlands roughly halved what they've stored there. That was in 2026. They didn't physically ship any of it, they sold it and rebought in Europe.

Germany moved 111t from New York in 2016, and, afaict, nothing since then. There's still 1236t left.

Italy also keeps over 1000t in New York (no plans for repatriation).

JumpCrisscross 55 minutes ago | parent

> They didn't physically ship any of it, they sold it and rebought in Europe

This is effectively outsourcing that process to the banks.

minraws 48 minutes ago | parent

Banks can keep it in US and stay happy, they don't necessarily immediately need physical gold. So it's quite efficient, lots of govts do similar stuff.

JumpCrisscross 32 minutes ago | parent

> Banks can keep it in US and stay happy

If the Banque de France holds physical in New York and sells it to JPMorgan (nothing moves) and then in Paris buys contract for physical from UBS, there will probably need to be physical gold that moves.

In all likelihood, Swiss gold held by e.g. a Gulf customer might be sold to Paris (nothing moves) and JPMorgan may entice Venezuela to take those contracts on its balance sheet (nothing moves). But if it’s a big trade, the price of delivering physical in Paris (or Genève) will go above spot in New York at which point it’s profitable for JPMorgan to take delivery, load up planes and physically ship gold.

Gravityloss 24 minutes ago | parent

I imagine a convoy of small but heavily armored ships leaving New York, with nervous sailors clutching machine guns on the decks.

JumpCrisscross 21 minutes ago | parent

> I imagine a convoy of small but heavily armored ships

It’s typically flown [1].

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

csomar 51 minutes ago | parent

I don't think that counts as exports although they could be selling in the US and buying locally where traders move the gold (then it will be counted as exports).

iamnothere 45 minutes ago | parent

It’s specifically nonmonetary gold, so that’s a separate issue unless those nations were holding non-reserve gold here.

Although a sibling commenter mentioned that they moved their gold by selling it and rebuying it in Europe. If that gold qualifies as non-reserve gold after sale, and is moved out after sale to (for example) China, then perhaps?

dyauspitr 42 minutes ago | parent

Probably all of it.

mqus 38 minutes ago | parent

From the article: > The U.S. government is still reporting that its gold reserves are unchanged, so these exports look to be coming from current mine output and recycling operations.

Not sure if "The U.S governments gold reserves" also includes the ones from other countries though.

exe34 37 minutes ago | parent

Probably been moved to mar a lago for safekeeping at this point.

simonh 12 minutes ago | parent

So that’s why Florida is sinking into the ocean.

manlymuppet 1 hour ago | parent

How much of this is exports being ranked by value, and gold, even a little being worth a lot, quickly becomes the “top” export despite being relatively small in absolute quantity terms?

ceroxylon 1 hour ago | parent

From the article:

>That’s not just because the price of gold reached record high prices. In February 2026, the tons of gold exported may have set an all-time record.

manlymuppet 1 hour ago | parent

    > Normally, America’s highest value exports are either oil, pharmaceuticals, or aircraft and their parts.  Not now.  Starting in October 2025, the value of gold exports has topped all other categories almost every month.

From what I’m reading, the article does rank exports by value.

Relative to quantity, the price of gold might have less to do with why it’s the top of the list, but gold being more valuable in general might still be the main reason it’s at the top.

For example:

June

Oil at $1 a barrel

Gold at $10 a ton

100 barrels of oil exported - $100

9 tons of gold exported - $90

By value, oil is the top export.

——-

July

Oil at $1 a barrel

Gold at $9 a ton

100 barrels of oil exported - $100

12 tons of gold exported - $108

By value, gold is now the top export.

——-

Even though the price of gold dropped—-the inverse of our current situation to illustrate an extreme—-the general higher price of gold is more relevant to the ranking than its quantity increase.

maxldn 17 minutes ago | parent

I feel like pharmaceuticals and aircraft are quite expensive by mass

ashdksnndck 46 minutes ago | parent

Was anyone confused by the title and thought we are exporting more gold in volume or weight than other products? It seems obvious that gold must be winning on value.

bigmadshoe 21 minutes ago | parent

Exports are typically ranked in dollars, not in kilograms. Do we think about the weight of GPUs a country exports or their value?

_ache_ 1 hour ago | parent

If you think that USD value will drop sharply, it's a logical thing to do.

declan_roberts 52 minutes ago | parent

I don't quite follow. Countries hold gold to protect their own currency from devaluation, not bc they expected it to become stronger against a dollar.

jack_pp 36 minutes ago | parent

How does holding gold protect from devaluation? No one has currency backed by gold any more.

scotty79 28 minutes ago | parent

> How does holding gold protect from devaluation?

I think the idea is to rise the value of your currency, you rise the demand for your currency, by selling for it something that everybody wants, like gold.

Of course this demand is artificial and you'll run out of hold to sell at some point, but it can hopefully carry you over thd bump.

irishcoffee 23 minutes ago | parent

I still don’t get it. Why does everyone want gold? Its uses are some types of electronics and jewelry. Almost seems like crypto, it has value because it is somewhat rare… and everyone else also thinks it has value.

Sincere question.

theendisney 19 minutes ago | parent

To trade with Anunnaki. They need it to repair Nibiru's failing atmosphere.

KellyCriterion 6 minutes ago | parent

LOL

Massivly surprised to see a link to this storyline/paradigm here on HN, great!

Cheers! :-))

scotty79 15 minutes ago | parent

> Why does everyone want gold?

Because you sell it cheap.

> Almost seems like crypto, it has value because it is somewhat rare… and everyone else also thinks it has value.

Exactly.

It has value because it won't spoil and you can sell it later gor the same or more because it's scarce.

_ache_ 13 minutes ago | parent

The value of Gold isn't linked to any currency. Money is just paper (or a number) and can be de-valuated. Gold doesn't.

Supermancho 11 minutes ago | parent

Gold ingot relative rarity + desirability + physical durability means it's a 'physical good' that is likely to retain value above a relative floor...ie it will always be worth something to someone, and virtually every country tracks their own estimate. Gold is a standard element of trade historically as it's a little difficult to steal (easier to defend physically) while being fairly simple to verify and measure.

iamnothere 6 minutes ago | parent

It’s exactly like the value of crypto, but without the risk of losing your funds from hacks or bugs, and without the benefit of online transfer. You can put it in a hole in the ground and it will be the exact same in 50 years. It’s shiny and has a history.

Nations like to use it for reserves because it’s stable, historically fit for the purpose of exchange, and well-understood. You can “count” it and use this to settle balances in a way that outsiders can’t easily interfere with.

Almost all “value” is strange and complex. Why is Francium, which is less useful than even gold, worth a theoretical $28 billion per ounce? (Not that you would find any buyers for that quantity.) Why is a Black Lotus card worth $3 million? Why is a dollar worth whatever you can buy for a dollar?

scotty79 30 minutes ago | parent

If you sell something in US, you get paid in US dollars. If you believe dollars soon won't be worth the paper they are printed on, you immediately spend dollars on something that has durable value and take it with you instead.

_ache_ 20 minutes ago | parent

If you have USD and you think it will value less soon, you change it to gold instead. If you own gold in the US and think that the USD value will drop very low, you move out of the USD fearing gold retention.

f001 42 minutes ago | parent

It’s more of losing trust in the US. If they don’t believe they’ll have access to it when needed or if they believe it might be seized for whatever made up reason, makes sense to move it somewhere they’ll have control over it.

IAmGraydon 36 minutes ago | parent

They think the Trump administration will confiscate it.

Dumblydorr 33 minutes ago | parent

Whatever would give them that idea…

bigmadshoe 21 minutes ago | parent

Why would the dropping value of the USD be a factor in selling gold? Doesn't holding gold hedge against exactly that?

I think the real reason is that they're afraid of political instability in the US that may result in 1) an inability to retrieve their gold, or 2) the government confiscating it.

throw73847939 1 hour ago | parent

Gold is tiny compared to oil and other energy exports. I would more watch for drop in energy exports, and how US is screwing its partners right now!

leopoldcongo 39 minutes ago | parent

All the gold was stolen from Africa or South America by the Europeans no?

metalman 30 minutes ago | parent

ton for ton the US top export is CO², and it's largest import is O², or was, if it has slipped then that is the main reason behind the export of ag, as all of it is tied to actual industrial capacity

throwawayffffas 7 minutes ago | parent

Straight up read God.

JumpCrisscross 4 minutes ago | parent

> majority of gold exports are going to Switzerland, almost certainly to the refiners there

I think this is a story about gold refiners being maxed out. Globally, “refining capacity is operating at near-total utilization” [1]. But particularly in America, where refiners are “limiting purchases” [2] and “turning away new clients” [3].

[1] https://www.skillings.net/gold-refining-report-global-standa...

[2] https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/metal-refiners-t...

[3] https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/refining-pipelin...

legitster 3 minutes ago | parent

The article points out the primary source is recycling operations.

This is not some big currency or export program. It's most likely Grandma and Grandpa hawking their jewelry.

The cash for gold industry in the US is absolutely massive and growing. Most of it is fueled by boomers dumping their assets into gold and silver - and then cashing it out when times get worse.