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Popular with Germans:
Krugerrand gold coin
Photo: Armin Weigel / dpa
According to the marketing company Prestige Bullion, South Africa's Krugerrand gold coin should end the year with a new export record.
"In the past twelve months up to the end of November, over 700,000 troy ounces were exported - more than 80 percent of them to Germany," said Richard Collocott, Marketing Director of the company located on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
Such a demand has not existed for at least three decades.
"We had a very steep export demand," said Collocott.
He gave the export average of the past five years at just under 450,000 troy ounces.
One troy ounce is equivalent to 31.1 grams.
In the corona crisis year 2020, the gold price only knew the way up - and reached its preliminary all-time high in August at $ 2021 per troy ounce.
The troy ounce of gold is currently trading at around $ 1,792 after having slipped below $ 1,700 in April.
The most popular gold coin in Germany, which was launched on the market more than half a century ago, also benefited from this.
The Krugerrand with more than 60 million copies is the most traded gold coin in the world.
Gold has always been considered a crisis-proof investment.
Gold retains its reputation even in times of rising inflation.
In the first half of 2021, more than 90 tons of bars and coins were sold in Germany, says the managing director of the Precious Metals Association, York Tetzlaff, citing data from the World Gold Council.
"That was the highest turnover in twelve years; only China was the only country in the world where there was more gold demand."
In the third quarter, sales rose again: At 33.7 tons, sales reached the highest quarterly figure since 2011. "The record of last year of 157 tons could be exceeded in 2021. That would give us two sales record years in a row," said Tetzlaff.
Capital gains tax-free after one year
One advantage of the precious metal: The purchase of gold for investment purposes is not only VAT-free, but after a holding period of at least one year, capital gains on the sale of gold bars and gold coins are also tax-free.
The banking association warns, however, that despite its reputation as a "safe haven", a stable price trend cannot be assumed for gold.
Important influencing factors are the euro-dollar exchange rate, the oil price and the political environment.
"In addition, gold does not bring regular income, the return can only be achieved from a rising gold price," says the banking association.
The price of the precious metal can sometimes drop sharply: In 2013, the gold price collapsed by around 30 percent, marking the largest loss in three decades.
A major reason for the drop in prices that year was the subsidence of the financial crisis, which had previously driven investors into the much-cited "safe havens".
rei / DPA
