The demand for gold bars surged at the start of the war. The Russian authorities were forced to impose restrictions on currency withdrawals from accounts and urgently abolished VAT on gold bar purchases. Previously, this tax was not refunded upon sale, which limited investments in bars. The law came into effect retroactively – from March 1, 2022.
Bought 12 kg gold bars
At first, Russians bought standard bars weighing about 12 kg, recalled A. Moiseev: many banks’ top-tier clients simply transferred cash into large gold bars. Later, they shifted to smaller bars, with the 100-gram bar becoming the most popular. Now, according to him, interest in large standard bars is growing again, writes “The Moscow Times.”
On September 9, the accounting price of one gram of gold was 12,340 rubles, so the value of a 12 kg bar amounts to 147 million rubles (about 1.47 million euros). For wealthy Russians, this may be a way to protect their savings from ruble depreciation, especially amid ongoing rumors about deposit freezes.
Sanctions prohibit importing dollars and euros
A. Moiseev believes that gold will replace cash for people because sanctions prohibit bringing dollar and euro banknotes into the country. In his opinion, the biggest growth in gold demand will occur precisely within this substitution.
“I think we will see the process of replacing traditional Russian post-USSR savings methods, the most conservative forms of saving – pure foreign currency – with gold. These are absolutely huge reserves,” he said.
These reserves may reach 7.6 trillion rubles – the amount of cash that Russian households held on August 1, according to the Central Bank’s estimate. Based on the accounting price of 10,500 rubles per gram valid that day, this would be about 720 tons of gold.
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It is likely more than twice the country’s annual gold production. After the war began, these data were classified, but the World Gold Council (WGC) estimated that Russia produced 330 tons of gold in 2024, and 345 tons last year. In summer, Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov stated that Russia would increase gold production to 480-500 tons this year, but experts did not believe him.
Most Russian gold is exported
Currently, the majority of gold mined in Russia is exported, with about 22% used for domestic consumption, estimated the Gold Miners’ Union. According to their data, 7% of gold sales go to the Moscow Exchange, 6% to the jewelry industry, 5% are purchased by individuals, 3% are acquired by the state’s precious metals and gemstones depository, and 1% is used for coin and medal production.
The export geography is narrowing, so “we recently concluded that it is necessary to develop the domestic market,” said the union’s head Sergei Kashuba. Unlike A. Moiseev, he calls individual gold purchases “quite modest” and aims to increase gold sales in the domestic market to half of total production, notes “The Moscow Times.”
Gold was wrapped in chocolate paper
Some of the gold purchased by Russians may also have been taken out of the country. Some did this to save their savings, but more often they participated in duty-free gold export schemes.
“People just carried it in their pockets. They stuffed their pockets and left,” said A. Moiseev. The Federal Customs Service reported how one Russian woman tried to smuggle gold bars wrapped in “Alionka” chocolate paper to Istanbul, and about other similar cases. To stop this flow, from May 1, individuals are prohibited from exporting more than 100 grams of gold bars abroad.
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