The gold price in Austria

The price of gold today is determined by supply and demand on international markets and is therefore largely uniform worldwide. There is therefore no such thing as THE Austrian gold price.

Gone are the days when a few banks fixed the price of gold in the back room (London gold fixing). Nowadays, gold is traded on international commodity exchanges such as the New York Commodities Exchange (COMEX), the Tokyo Commodity Exchange and the London Bullion Market (LBMA). The prices on these trading venues reflect supply and demand on the international gold market, resulting in a current spot price for an ounce of gold in US dollars (XAU/USD).

This gold spot also serves as the basis for gold trading in Austria: Austrian banks and gold dealers base their prices on this gold price.

Current daily price of gold in Austria

Nevertheless, customers often ask us about the "daily price for broken gold" or the "daily price for gold" in general.

In fact, the LBMA gold price in the afternoon ("PM fix") can be regarded as the "daily price for gold". Central banks, among others, refer to this PM fix to determine the value of their gold reserves on a daily basis. However, if you as an end customer want to buy investment gold or sell old gold, the spot price for gold is used as the price basis everywhere.

This also applies to over-the-counter prices at banks, even if many Austrian banks only publish "daily gold prices" for coins and bars on their websites once or twice a day.

In Austria, we have the special situation that the company ÖGUSSA, now a subsidiary of the German AGOSI (UMICORE), has dominated and led the Austrian precious metal recycling market for decades.
From this market-dominating position, ÖGUSSA was also the first and for a long time the only refinery in Austria to publish twice-daily updated precious metal prices in daily newspapers, and for many decades offered a then highly innovative, today rather "retro", tape-recording service under the telephone number 1576, thus making a "daily price" available to the general public.

Gold dealers, jewellers and interested private individuals therefore simply called the ÖGUSSA daily price hotline for the current gold price. Thanks to this service, which was highly innovative at the time, the ÖGUSSA daily rate for gold became THE generally accepted standard in Austria. As a result of this habit and tradition, many people still believe today that ÖGUSSA sets the precious metal prices for Austria.

Of course, this is not the case. The truth is that there is no daily price for gold that is set in Austria: The selling and buying prices, whether at banks, refineries and manufacturers, such as ÖGUSSA or the "Austrian Mint", or at dealers such as PHILORO, Goldvorsorge GVS or even Gold&Co, are based exclusively on the current international stock market prices.

The current gold price in the chart

You can find a current overview of all our purchase and sales prices here.

Factors influencing the gold price in Austria

Nevertheless, there are some factors that can lead to differences in the price of gold in different countries:

Exchange rate

Because gold is denominated in dollars on the global market (dollars per troy ounce), the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro plays a key role in the price of gold in Austria. A weak euro makes gold more expensive in the eurozone, while a strong euro lowers the price of gold in Austria.

Taxes

Taxes are sometimes one reason why products differ in price in different countries. In Austria, however, the purchase of investment gold (such as gold bars and coins) is exempt from VAT, as is the case everywhere in the EU. Unlike gold, however, silver, platinum and other precious metals are not exempt from VAT, which can result in price differences between Austria and other countries.

Premium & Spread

If you want to buy gold, you will see that the prices for gold coins and bars are higher than the gold price. These additional costs compared to the current price are known as the premium. This includes the costs incurred for production, trading, storage, etc. If demand increases and/or the supply of a physical gold product decreases, sellers can increase the premiums because gold buyers are prepared to pay them.

However, if you want to sell your gold, you will find that the buying prices are always lower than the selling prices. The difference in prices is called the spread.
The spread also covers the dealer's costs. From operating and personnel costs to hedging against price fluctuations.

While Austrian precious metal dealers and banks have no influence on the general gold price, exchange rates and taxes, there is some leeway when it comes to premiums and spreads when selling and buying. The gold price offered by Raiffeisen, Erste Group, savings banks and other banks as the current counter price may therefore differ from the buying and selling prices for gold coins and bars at gold dealers.

Purchase prices in Austria

Before you sell your gold, it is always advisable to compare the gold purchase prices per gram. Ideally, you should obtain the various offers within a few days, as the price of gold can fluctuate considerably.

Reputable gold dealers publish the current gold prices for the purchase of old gold as well as the purchase prices for investment gold on their websites.

For gold jewelry, dental gold and other broken gold, the gold price, the alloy of the individual pieces and the weight of the old gold are always decisive for the purchase price.

When buying gold coins, in addition to weight and gold content, the marketability (bullion coin or rare collector's item) and the condition of the coin also have an influence on the price. In the case of gold bars, the manufacturer's LBMA certification ("Good Delivery") plays a role.

Gold price when buying Austrian gold coins and bars

With the Austrian Mint, we have a mint in Austria that issues some of the most popular and widely accepted investment gold coins. With the Vienna Philharmonic , the third most important gold coin in the world comes from Austria.
Even though the gold price of the Vienna Philharmonic, a gold ducat and the value of other Austrian Mint products is of course based on the current gold price, they are sometimes available here in Austria at lower premiums than abroad.