The sales of gold bars and gold banking by leading commercial lenders hit record highs this month.

According to the financial industry on Sunday, the total sales of gold bars by the five major banks – KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup – amounted to 40-point-63 billion won in the first 13 days of February.

This is three times the figure for the previous month and 20 times the sales for the same period of last year.

The daily sales of gold bars at the five banks, which stood at about two billion won on February 3, jumped to nearly four billion won on February 5 and surpassed five billion won two days later, which coincided with a sharp increase in international gold prices after United States President Donald Trump announced a plan to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China.

The sales surged further to surpass ten billion won on February 13, a day after the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, a major supplier of gold bars, decided to temporarily suspend gold bar supplies to banks.

The balance of the so-called gold banking accounts at three commercial banks also hit a record 896-point-nine billion won as of February 13, approaching 900 billion won for the first time.