Gold Price per Kilo and Pound

Kilo and pound math with worked examples

One kilogram of gold holds 32.1507 troy ounces, so the kilo price is the ounce price multiplied by 32.1507. An everyday pound holds 14.5833 troy ounces, and a troy pound exactly 12.

At an example price of $2,000 per troy ounce, a round number rather than today’s quote, the math runs like this:

1. 1 kilogram: $2,000 × 32.1507 = $64,301.49.
2. 1 avoirdupois pound: $2,000 × 14.5833 = $29,166.67.
3. 1 troy pound: $2,000 × 12 = $24,000.
4. 1 kilogram of 22K jewelry: $64,301.49 × 22/24 = $58,943.04 in gold content.
5. One metric tonne of pure gold: $2,000 × 32,150.75 = about $64.3 million.

Swap in the current gold price per ounce and each line gives you today’s figure.

Kilo prices in karat gold

A kilo of jewelry holds less than a kilo of gold. At the same $2,000 example price, the gold in one kilogram is worth about $58,943 at 22K, $48,226 at 18K, $37,509 at 14K and $26,792 at 10K. For a household pound of 14K scrap, the gold content is 14.5833 × 0.5833 = 8.51 troy ounces, worth about $17,014 at the example price.

How many ounces are in a pound of gold?

The answer people expect is 16, and the answer in the gold trade is 12. Both are wrong for an everyday pound of gold measured on a household scale, which holds 14.58 troy ounces. The 16 figure uses avoirdupois ounces, which are lighter, and the 12 figure uses the troy pound, which is lighter still. If someone tells you what a “pound of gold” is worth, ask which pound before you do anything with the number.

How big a kilo of gold really is

Gold is one of the densest metals people handle, at 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter. That makes large values surprisingly small.

• A kilogram of gold fills about 51.8 cubic centimeters, less than the volume of a deck of playing cards.
• An avoirdupois pound of gold is about 23.5 cubic centimeters, roughly the size of a small matchbox.
• A cubic foot of solid gold would weigh about 547 kilograms, or more than 1,200 pounds.
• A London Good Delivery bar of about 400 troy ounces weighs roughly 12.4 kilograms.

Kilo bars are usually cast as flat rectangles, small enough to hold in one hand but noticeably heavy for their size. That density is also why counterfeiters use tungsten, which is almost as dense, and why a kilo bar is worth checking with more than a scale. Bar types and authenticity checks are explained on the gold bar prices page.

A pound of gold in coins

An everyday pound of pure gold is 14.58 troy ounces, roughly fourteen and a half one-ounce Buffalos. Fill the same pound with 22K Gold Eagles, which weigh 33.931 grams each, and you get only about 13.4 coins, holding 13.4 ounces of gold. A pound of coins and a pound of gold are not the same thing.

Why a kilo feels heavier than it looks

People judge weight by size. A kilo bag of sugar is large, so a kilo of gold, one-sixteenth the size or less, feels far heavier than the eye expects. It is one of the simplest reality checks on a fake: a gold-colored bar that feels light for its dimensions isn’t solid gold.

Where kilo bars trade

Asian markets

The kilogram is the working bar size across much of Asia. Wholesale gold moves through Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai in kilo bars, and the Shanghai Gold Exchange quotes its main gold contracts in yuan per gram. Local pricing in the region’s main trading hub is on the gold price in Hong Kong page.

COMEX delivery

A standard COMEX gold futures contract covers 100 troy ounces. It can be settled with one 100-ounce bar or with three 1-kilogram bars, which together hold 96.45 ounces; the exchange adjusts the invoice for the actual weight. How the contract works is covered on the gold futures page.

Spreads on a kilo bar

Kilo bars carry low premiums per ounce, but any percentage spread applies to a large sum. At the $2,000 example price, a 1% spread on a kilo bar is about $643. When comparing offers on a kilo, a small difference in percentage is real money, which is why sellers of large bars usually collect several quotes.

Kilo bars in the United States

U.S. retail buyers mostly buy 1-ounce and 10-ounce bars, but many dealers also stock kilo bars. Because a kilo isn’t a round number of troy ounces, invoices show 32.15 ounces and the price is quoted either per bar or as a per-ounce figure times 32.1507. A cash purchase at this size also crosses the $10,000 threshold at which a dealer must file IRS Form 8300.

Tonnes in official figures

Central bank reserves, mine output and ETF holdings are reported in metric tonnes. One tonne is 1,000 kilograms, or 32,150.75 troy ounces. When a report says a central bank added 10 tonnes, that is 321,507 troy ounces. The total value of all gold above ground is discussed on the gold market cap page.

Kilo and pound mix-ups

• Using 16 ounces per pound with the troy ounce price. That overstates the value of an everyday pound by about 10%, because 16 troy ounces is more gold than a pound holds.
• Using 12 ounces per pound for an item weighed on a household scale. That understates it, since the troy pound is only 373 grams.
• Confusing a metric tonne with a U.S. short ton. A short ton of 2,000 pounds is 907 kilograms, about 9% less gold than a tonne.
• Treating a kilo of jewelry like a kilo bar. A kilo of 14K jewelry holds only 583 grams of gold.
• Rounding 32.1507 down to 32. On a kilo bar that drops 0.15 ounce from the calculation, a noticeable amount of money at any modern price.

Converting a kilo price back to smaller units

Divide a kilo price by 1,000 for the price per gram, by 32.1507 for the price per troy ounce, or by 85.735 for the price per tola. Going from a smaller unit to a kilo, multiply by the same numbers. For single ounces and fractions, the gold price per ounce page lays out the smaller conversions.

Large-weight terms in brief

• Kilobar: a 1-kilogram bar, usually 999.9 fine, the standard wholesale size in Asia.
• Troy pound: 12 troy ounces or 373.24 grams, now used mainly in historical records.
• Avoirdupois pound: the everyday 16-ounce pound of 453.59 grams.
• Metric tonne: 1,000 kilograms, the unit for central bank and mining statistics.
• Short ton: the U.S. ton of 2,000 pounds, or 907.18 kilograms.