Looking back, it is evident from the charts below that 2015 was another year of decline for physical gold deliveries in New York. This is thought to be a benign phenomenon by some.
And one might certainly question how much of that 'stockpile' of gold held in storage is unencumbered, and not subject to multiple hypothecation.
As you know I think that such a decline in the connection to the fundamental flows of a physical commodity creates a potentially dangerous situation, especially in a climate in which most of the major markets have shown themselves to have been systematically rigged by corrupt trading institutions.
The second chart shows how dramatically the physical gold market has moved to the East, leaving both New York and London as influential to price while becoming increasingly insubstantial.
Finally the third chart shows that the New York market still maintains a strong physical delivery function for silver. This is largely thanks to CNT, which is a major supplier of silver to the Mint among other things.
Related: In China Everyone Can Buy Gold at the Shanghai Gold Exchange - Koos Jansen
