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Costco continues to eat away at the gold mine that is the precious metals market. The wholesaler adds platinum ingots made in Switzerland to its selection.
Costco announced the one-ounce platinum bars on Wednesday, on sale for $1,089.99 on its website, alongside its now-famous gold bars and silver coins. The bars are only sold online and cannot be delivered to Louisiana, Nevada or Puerto Rico, the company said. Interested shoppers will also need a Costco membership, which costs between $65 and $130 per year.
It’s no surprise that the company has continued to move into the precious metals market. Gold bars launched at Costco in August 2023, and just two months later they were selling out within hours of a restock. Wells Fargo analysts reported in April that Costco was selling $200 million worth of gold bullion per month.
“I got a few calls that people saw online saying we were selling one-ounce gold bars,” Richard Galanti, then Costco’s chief financial officer, said during the company’s earnings call in September 2023. “When we upload them to the site, they usually disappear within a few hours and we limit two per member.
The value of gold has increased by more than 40% in the last year and more than 70% in the last five years. But the price of platinum has been a little more volatile in recent years. Platinum’s value has risen more than 15% in the past 12 months, although it has fallen more than 8% since hitting $1,100 earlier in 2024.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.