LONDON (Reuters) - Gold exports from Switzerland rose year on year in January as supplies to the United States soared to the highest in at least 13 years and offset lower deliveries to top consumers China and India, Swiss customs data showed on Thursday.

Switzerland, the world's biggest bullion refining and transit hub, alongside Britain which is home to the world's largest over-the-counter gold trading hub, saw a surge in gold transfers to the U.S. in recent months as President Trump readies wide-reaching import tariffs that some market participants fear could affect gold deliveries.

The concern has widened the price premium between U.S. gold futures and London spot prices, attracting massive deliveries to Comex gold inventories.

According to the Swiss data, gold exports from the country to the U.S. rose to 192.9 tons in January from 64.2 tons in December. This was the highest monthly amount of exports in the customs data going back to 2012.

Trump has not mentioned precious metals are likely to be targeted at all, but since late November, when he pledged to impose tariffs on imported products from Canada and Mexico, 20.4 million troy ounces (636 metric tons) of gold worth $60 billion at current prices were delivered to Comex-approved warehouses.

These deliveries raised Comex gold stocks by 116% to 38.0 million ounces, the highest since March 2021, and tightened liquidity in the London OTC market.

Swiss total gold exports and supplies to key markets* (in kgs):

January 2025 December 2024 January 2024

Total trade: 225,425 123,424 206,971

- China 200 4,000 77,807

- Emirates, Arab 1,923 5,569 13,691

- France 1,413 1,645 1,135

- Germany 2,095 1,557 1,321

- Hong Kong 1,695 2,102 44,573

- India 1,645 8,975 14,000

- Italy 1,740 2,952 2,511

- Saudi Arabia 1,608 5,775 8,974

- Thailand 510 0 11,188

- United Kingdom 9,274 14,421 7,893

- USA 192,933 64,247 1,592

* Source: Swiss customs. Data subject to revision.