All that glitters is not necessarily 100% pure gold.  Gold dore is a semi-pure alloy, which is a mixture of different kinds of metals.  How you report gold dore in the Automated Export System (AES) depends on the purity of gold.

Classifying Gold Dore

Using our Schedule B Search Engine, the chart below shows Schedule B number 7108.12.1020 as the classification for gold dore.  In the Description column, you will see Dore (gold content).  In the Unit of Quantity column you will notice Au g.  Au is the symbol for gold.  This means that filers should only report the amount of gold grams (Au g) exported.

Reporting Gold Dore in the AES

How would you report gold dore in the AES based on the breakdown of metals on the commercial invoice below?  Based on the information provided, report the gold content quantity (1,230,000 Au g) and total value of the shipment ($52 million).  To figure out the unit price of the gold, you divide the value by the quantity of the gold.  In this case, the unit price is $42 per Au g.

However, if you had reported the gold content as all of the metal quantities combined (1,500,000 grams), the unit price would appear to be about $35 per Au g, much less than the actual price of the gold per gram.  As you can see, a small filing error can make a big difference and impact the data that we publish.

Interested in exploring imports and exports of gold dore? Check out our trade data portal, USA Trade Online. First time users get free access for one week! For Schedule B classification, check out our easy to use search engine: https://uscensus.prod.3ceonline.com/. If you have additional classification questions, call 1(800) 549-0595, option #2.