The UK’s gold exports have surged nearly tenfold this year as investor-selling drives the bullion out of London vaults to Asian consumers.

今年英国黄金出口几乎呈十倍增长，原因是投资者抛售推动黄金从伦敦的金库转移到亚洲消费者手中。

UK gold exports to Switzerland, the hub of the gold refining industry, leapt to 798 tonnes in the first six months of the year, up from 83 tonnes in the first half of 2012, according to data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.

欧盟统计局(Eurostat)的数据显示，今年上半年，英国出口到黄金熔炼工业中心瑞士的黄金猛增至798吨，而2012年同期仅为83吨。

The exports – worth €29bn and equivalent to nearly 30 per cent of global annual mine production – underscore the scale of the shift in gold ownership as western investors lose their enthusiasm for the metal.

这一出口量价值290亿欧元，相当于全球黄金年产量的近30%，凸显出在西方投资者对黄金失去兴趣之际，黄金易手的规模之大。

London is the centre of the global gold market, with bankers estimating that some 10,000 tonnes are held in the city’s vaults, including at the Bank of England, largely by investors and central banks.

伦敦是全球黄金市场的中心，银行家估计，包括英国央行(Bank of England)在内的伦敦金融城金库中持有10000吨左右黄金，其中多数为投资者和各国央行持有。

Large-scale selling by investors triggered a 26 per cent slide in gold prices from the start of the year to a near three-year low of $1,180 a troy ounce in June. The fall has stimulated a huge increase in demand in Asia, particularly China, whose gold association reported a 54 per cent increase in demand in the first half of the year.

投资者大规模抛售导致金价从今年年初下跌26%，今年6月跌至每金衡制盎司1180美元，为近三年来最低价。金价下跌刺激亚洲需求剧增，尤其是中国。中国的黄金协会报告称，今年上半年黄金需求增长了54%。

Matthew Turner, a precious metals analyst at Macquarie, said the rise in gold exports had closely tracked outflows of the metal from exchange-traded funds, a popular investment product which helped to popularise gold when they were launched a decade ago.

麦格理(Macquarie)贵金属策略师马修·特纳(Matthew Turner)表示，黄金出口密切追踪交易所交易基金(ETF)中外流的黄金。黄金ETF是一种流行的投资产品，十年前推出后推动了黄金投资的普及。

“If investors don’t want the gold it has to go somewhere else,” said Mr Turner. “The Chinese are simply willing to pay more for it.”

特纳表示：“如果投资者不想要黄金，那么黄金就得流向其他地方。中国人非常愿意购买更多黄金。”

The shift of gold out of western trading hubs to Asia has led to a jump in business for traders and refiners. The London Bullion Market Association said the daily cleared trading volume on the London market by its members hit a 12-year high of 900 tonnes – worth $39bn – in June via strong demand, particularly from China and India.

黄金从西方交易中心转移到亚洲，导致交易商和熔炼商的业务腾飞。伦敦金银市场协会(London Bullion Market Association)表示，其成员在伦敦市场每日清算的交易量因需求强劲，在今年6月达到12年来的最高纪录，达900吨，价值390亿美元，其中中国和印度的需求尤为旺盛。

Swiss refiners, such as Metalor, Pamp, Valcambi and Argor-Heraeus, have had a boom, melting down large 400oz bars from London vaults and reprocessing them into smaller products as preferred by Asian buyers. “The Swiss are running three or four shifts to keep the refineries going non-stop. They’re throwing bodies at it,” said one senior gold trader.

瑞士的熔炼商，如美泰乐(Metalor)、Pamp、Valcambi与Argor-Heraeus等，生意兴旺，来自伦敦金库的400盎司规格的大金条被它们熔化，重新铸造成亚洲买家偏爱的较小产品。一名高级黄金交易员表示：“瑞士人一天倒三四个班次，让熔炼厂马不停蹄地运转。他们投入了全部精力。”

Prices touched a two-month high of $1,384 a troy ounce yesterday amid hopes the wave of investor selling was slowing.

昨日，在预期投资者抛售潮放缓的氛围中，每金衡制盎司金价达到两个月以来的最高点，至1384美元。