Metro Vancouver gold dealers see demand surge amid economic uncertainty

Shaurya Kshatri · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 06, 2025 10:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

As the terms of golden continues to climb, Rina Bhattacharjee says she's considering buying much of it.

"Gold is decidedly a bully prime to put [in] astatine this constituent of time," said the Toronto resident, who was retired buying successful Vancouver while on vacation.

While she occasionally invests successful the precious metal, she says she's noticed a increasing fig of others doing the same.

Bhattacharjee is 1 of galore Canadians turning to golden arsenic a mode to upwind marketplace instability.

Robert Levy, manager astatine Border Gold Corp. successful Surrey, B.C., says his institution — 1 of Canada's largest Royal Canadian Mint nonstop distributors — has seen a crisp summation successful demand.

"Particularly successful golden sales, we've seen astir a 40 per cent uptick successful request successful the archetypal 4th of 2025 versus 2024," helium told CBC News. "Investors privation a small information and comfortableness successful their portfolio."

That involvement is rising alongside concerns astir a imaginable recession, helium says, spurred successful portion by worsening commercialized tensions betwixt Canada and the United States.

Trump slapped a 25 per cent tariff connected Canadian goods (and 10 per cent connected energy) past month, supposedly successful effect to drugs and migrants coming into the U.S. crossed the bluish border, but made immoderate exceptions for importers who tin beryllium the products they're bringing successful from Canada are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

WATCH | Local dealers see more radical buying oregon investing successful gold:

Trump further imposed stiff tariffs connected nations worldwide connected Wednesday, sending planetary banal markets downward.

Canada's main banal index, the S&P/TSX Composite, fell 1,142 points, oregon 4.6 per cent — 1 of its largest single-day drops since 2020.

For many, the turbulence is reinforcing gold's estimation arsenic a harmless haven.

"Gold has ever been the hedge of uncertainty," said John Steen, manager of the Bradshaw Research Institute for Mining and Minerals astatine the University of British Columbia. "The uncertainty and the accidental of recession, which is arising with the commercialized war, is going to propulsion up the golden terms implicit the longer term."

Steen says akin patterns emerged during the aboriginal stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and again erstwhile Trump began his archetypal word successful 2017 — some periods erstwhile golden prices spiked.

Gold's worth is tied successful portion to its supply, Steen says.

"Not a batch of golden gets produced and the accumulation rates are reasonably constant, it's controlled, and it's besides utilized arsenic a store of wealthiness by governments."

But portion golden whitethorn connection security, Steen warns against "getting connected the golden bandwagon."

He points to a punctuation from fashionable capitalist Warren Buffett: "Be fearful erstwhile others are greedy and beryllium greedy erstwhile others are fearful."

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has besides advised caution, noting that portion golden prices often emergence during periods of economical anxiety, the superior beneficiaries are often sellers — not late-coming buyers.

The bureau besides warns astir scams, inflated premiums and counterfeit products targeting inexperienced investors.

Despite those warnings, request remains strong.

At Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange (VBCE), trader Garo Mavyan says galore buyers present are first-timers and involvement isn't constricted to gold.

"They perceive from their friends and family, work the news, truthful a batch of radical are jumping into it for the archetypal time," helium said. 

But a surge successful request has brought immoderate complications, Mavyan says. 

WATCH | Trade warfare anxiousness driving Canadians to gobble up gold:

VBCE sources overmuch of its inventory from the Royal Canadian Mint, but besides relies connected U.S. suppliers — a process present analyzable by Canada's retaliatory tariffs connected American precious metals.

"Probably little than 50 per cent of the items that we banal travel successful from U.S.-based suppliers," helium said. "We've had to pivot, but we person relationships with different suppliers astir the world."

As of this week, an ounce of golden costs astir $4,300, aft surging astir 20 per cent successful conscionable 3 months.