The central bank has reclaimed unsold commemorative Lunar New Year zodiac coins from past years to prevent arbitrage as global silver prices surged sharply, a bank official said yesterday.
The coins were taken back from Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政), which had been selling leftover zodiac coins from previous years, the official said.
Initial sales of the coins are handled by the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行). Each coin contains one troy ounce of silver.
Photo: CNA
The central bank noticed a spike in purchases of older zodiac coins in the middle of last month as silver prices climbed, the official said.
Silver prices rose about 140 percent year-on-year last year, jumping from about US$30 per ounce in 2024 to as high as US$120 this month before easing to about US$87.
The central bank said it acted to prevent people from buying older coins at fixed prices and reselling them for profit based on higher silver values.
As the coins are intended as commemorative items, the bank did not want them used for speculation, the official said.
Rising silver prices also pushed the price of this year’s zodiac coin set to a record NT$2,450 (US$77.41) to reflect higher production costs.
Over the past decade, the coin sets typically sold for NT$1,600 to NT$1,900 each, with the previous high of NT$2,000 recorded in 2013.
The reclaimed coins have been transferred to the central bank’s Central Engraving and Printing Plant and are to be reused as materials for future coin production, the official said.
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