Gold starts coming back to Switzerland from US after exclusion from Trump's tariffs

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold, which traders have been flying to New York since December as a precaution against the possibility of broad U.S. tariffs hitting bullion imports, is being shipped back to Switzerland, where it came from, official data shows.

Swiss customs data on Thursday showed that the country's gold imports from the U.S. rose to a thirteen-month high of 25.5 metric tons in March, from 12.1 tons in February. Gold exports from Switzerland to the U.S. fell 32% month-on-month to 103.2 tons.

U.S. warehouses approved by Comex, part of the CME Group, have seen eight consecutive days of gold outflows, for the first time in fourteen months, daily Comex data showed, as the U.S. futures premium wound down after major dislocation.

Gold, silver and platinum worth more than $80 billion was delivered to Comex warehouses in the December-March period, keeping logistics firms and Swiss refineries busier than usual.

However, the urgency to fly gold and ship silver to New York was removed when Washington excluded the metals from President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs two weeks ago and the flow is now slowly reversing back towards Switzerland.

Comex gold stocks are down 1.5 million troy ounces, worth $4.8 billion, to 43.6 million ounces (1,357 metric tons) since hitting an all-time high of 45.1 million ounces on April 4. They had started rising from 17.1 million ounces in November when Trump was elected President again.

Part of what is currently being delivered out from the U.S. gold vaults is coming back to Switzerland, the world's biggest bullion refining and transit hub, said a source at a Swiss refinery.

The outflow from the U.S. will be modest for now as gold in the country's vaults continues to serve as a hedge against the ongoing wider uncertainty for part of the market, he added.

In a typical year, the U.S. consumes about 115 tons of gold in physical coins and bars, meaning that the remaining kilobars in CME-registered warehouses are sufficient to last this segment of the market for nearly 12 years, said Ross Norman, an independent analyst.

"A great time to be in gold logistics and gold refining," he added.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)