India, which vies with China as the top consumer of bullion, is working on new policies to improve transparency and help expand its $19 billion gold jewelry industry, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The plans being worked out by the finance and commerce ministries along with industry groups should be finalized by the end of March, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. D.S. Malik, spokesman for the finance ministry, didn’t answer calls to his cellphone, while a spokeswoman for the commerce ministry didn’t reply to an email seeking comment.

The start of a spot bullion exchange, to make gold supply more transparent and help enforce purity standards, is under consideration, the people said. An import tax of 10 percent could also be reduced as the government seeks to eliminate smuggling, they said. The plans also include a dedicated bank for the jewelry industry, according to one of the people.

I have added in a new section for subscribers covering the Crypto Currencies

There's 1/2 dozen pages which show the top currencies & how they have performed.

It's a Wild West World which seems very similar to speculating in gold stocks. Lots of hype speculation profits & losses.

Prepare to be amazed.

COTs this week

Gold exports from Switzerland totaled 170 mt in May, up 39% from 122 mt in April, Swiss federal customs data showed Thursday.

The total is largely unchanged from a year earlier, down 2% from 174 mt in May 2016, but is the highest volume of the year so far.

India was the largest destination for Switzerland's gold for the fifth straight month, with 68 mt exported in May, up from 18.5 mt in May 2016.

The volume is up 40% from April and is the largest export volume to the country for 18 months.

In no particular order, the gold market’s six most important fundamental price drivers are the trends in 1) the real interest rate, 2) the yield curve, 3) credit spreads, 4) the relative strength of the banking sector, 5) the US dollar’s exchange rate and 6) commodity prices in general. Even though it creates some duplication, the bond/dollar ratio should also be included.

If and when the paper gold market implodes and the price of real physical gold diverges from the paper price of gold, the world’s billionaire investors will need to line up their ducks and explain to their partners and shareholders if they actually hold tangible physical gold bars, and if not why not.

Apprehension of higher goods and services tax (GST) rate and an increase in demand led to a surge in India’s gold imports by 236.7% to $5 billion in May, causing the highest level of trade deficit in two and a half years.

This is the fourth consecutive month since February when gold imports have more than doubled compared to the same month a year ago.

COTs this week

SGE Deliveries (not the same as SGE Withdrawals) hit the second highest amount yesterday with 48.62 tonnes delivered.

Palladium has been gaining versus platinum for the past year. Why do we care about this spread? Well, palladium and platinum’s main use is in the fabrication of catalytic converters for automobiles.

Palladium is mainly used in gasoline engines, while platinum plays a larger role in diesel cars. The Volkswagen emissions scandal effectively killed diesel’s future in passenger vehicles, so maybe this palladium outperformance can be explained by the dramatic switch from diesel to gasoline.

Combine this extra demand with the fact that palladium is a small market that was already suffering from challenging global supply, you had the recipe for a squeeze.