The Royal Mint to cease coin production for foreign countries from end of 2024

[eurocoin]

The Royal Mint will cease the production of coins for foreign countries from the end of this year. The 200 staff members involved will instead be offered jobs to work for the mint's new gold recycling plant.

[Big_M]

A end to a big an interesting chapter. Only of my favourite areas of interest.

I only wonder how they define overseas, does this include local pound currencies used by BOTs etc.? If it does, then, with Pobjoy also out of business, who is going to produce, in particular, the local pound coins for them?

[Alan71]

I'm sure the Royal Mint used to boast that foreign coin production was a major part of their business, so if it's their choice to stop, I find it hard to fathom.  They'll be producing fewer coins for circulation in the UK so I'm assuming the bulk of their business will become collector coins.

[Figleaf]

I think it is a sign of the times. The UK is just a bit later to catch on, but there will be others following even more behind. Think of countries ordering coin blanks from Asia or just closing their mints altogether.

I my lifetime, I have seen it happen to textile makers, the clothes industry, steel making, shipbuilding and car making and it ain't over yet. As wages rise in rich countries, it becomes increasingly tempting to outsource whole industries to low wage countries. The simple stuff, like spinning, weaving, run-of-the-mill steel production, soldering ship hulls and car bodies move first, while the more "high-tech" parts, like fashion design, specialty steel, ship paint and car gear boxes follow much later. The economies of production are merciless. Very rich countries keep the industries alive at home at the cost of price supports by border control, but all that is money wasted.

Coin making is not fit to be a rich country industry as long as there are poor countries. Any low wage country can make them cheaper if given a chance. If such production moves over to developing countries, they support higher wages and more employment there, which will lead to better labour markets in low wage countries and new markets for the really complicated or research-heavy stuff made in rich countries. Governments of rich countries should help the transition with re-education and other support for the newly unemployed to make them productive again, not hinder what will happen anyway.

Peter

[eurocoin]

I wonder what the impact of this decision will be on the manufacturing costs of the UK's coinage. I expect that costs will increase, possibly eventually leading to the abolishment of the 1p and 2p coins.

[FosseWay]

I think it is a sign of the times. The UK is just a bit later to catch on...

It's not the UK that's late to catch on here (for once   ), but the RM's erstwhile international customers. So long as other countries place enough orders for it to be worth offering the service, the RM will provide it: it can only react. Presumably more countries have withdrawn their business, so it's no longer worth it.

As you say, manufacturing in general has tended to move from richer countries to poorer ones. The real question is why it's taken so long for this to occur for coins, when other manufactured goods have been coming from East Asia (especially) for decades. I suspect the answer is government conservatism (not the UK's, again for once   , but that of the ordering countries). When coinage was (a) made of precious metals and (b) represented a considerable part of the total money supply in a given country, who produced the coins and where was a matter of national security. With the move away from precious metals and towards electronic funds, this is no longer the case. Broadly, it doesn't really matter in the same way now as it once might have if Country A chooses, say, Russia as its coinage provider only then for sanctions to bite and for the Russian government to confiscate the gold and silver that Country A has sent to it for coining.

Of course, solid national security is also a matter of national pride, for the ordering nation as well as the delivering one. I suspect that for some of the Royal Mint's former customers, there was a cachet associated with ordering from a respected European mint with a long, stable history. The same applies to Utrecht and Paris/Pessac. As the national security implications of your choice of mint become less pressing, other pressures (cost) become proportionately more so.

[Figleaf]

The real question is why it's taken so long for this to occur for coins

Not a difficult question, I would say. Coins are in the same category as airlines and the military. There oughtta be an EU airline and an EU military. In fact, an EEC military was on the table in the early days, but France scuttled it. Now, ironically, France is championing the idea.

These industries are tender spots (to put it politely) of politicians, especially those with a nationalistic/populist streak. If they would be subject to normal economic mechanics, most minting and just about all flan making would be done in Asia. Big, rich countries can afford to hold on to their mints and subsidise them. Small rich countries can just shrug (example: Luxembourg, the richest country per head of population outsources all its minting.) This also means that mint clients are not necessarily small developing economies. You don't say so but that is largely the British mint's experience.

Developing countries already have metallurgic capacity. By and large (depending mostly on corruption level) they could be dependable suppliers and it would be child's play to switch mints, so the security question is easily solved. It's the political will that's missing. My prime example is always that Germany doesn't need five mints if the US can make out with two.

Peter

[eurocoin]

Also following this news, I am starting to have doubts about the future of The Royal Mint Experience and the VIP tours. There are also some things that may indicate that these will also cease to exist. But it is just speculation for now.

I have sent The Royal Mint a number of questions about the end of the production for foreign countries.

[Pabitra]

I think it is a sign of the times. The UK is just a bit later to catch on, but there will be others following even more behind. Think of countries ordering coin blanks from Asia or just closing their mints altogether.

Peter, isn't this as per the plan that all foreign orders to the Royal Mint will be executed by its subsidiary in Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt?

[eurocoin]

Nobody has heard anything about the plans to open a mint in the Suez Canal Economic Zone for years.

[Offa]

I read something a couple of weeks ago about a collaboration between Egypt, the royal mint and the royal Canadian mint, perhaps that's the suez zone project

[eurocoin]

I read something a couple of weeks ago about a collaboration between Egypt, the royal mint and the royal Canadian mint, perhaps that's the suez zone project

Yes, that's it. But what you read was written in 2022. There has been no mention of the plans since then.

[eurocoin]

The Royal Mint has informed me that they will continue to manufacture collectors coins for other countries. The Royal Mint mainly manufactures these coins for the Central Bank of The Bahamas, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and the company Miura Japan.

The company has informed me that Tower Mint will be manufacturing 12-sided pound coins for the British Overseas Territories that use the 12-sided pound coin.

The Royal Mint will also no longer mint circulation coins for the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories that used to be customers of the mint, such as Guernsey, Jersey and Saint Helena and Ascension.

It is unclear whether The Royal Mint will still open a British-Egyptian mint in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. The mint refused to provide information about the status of these plans.

There are currently no changes planned in regard of the VIP tours and The Royal Mint Experience, however the company will keep this under review.

[andyg]

Are Tower Mint using blanks supplied by the Royal Mint for this?

As far as I know, only the Royal Mint can make these to the secret security features.

[eurocoin]

Are Tower Mint using blanks supplied by the Royal Mint for this?

As far as I know, only the Royal Mint can make these to the secret security features.

Yes, they are.