The United States Mint has released its Annual Report for 2019. The report discloses the costs associated with coin production as well as profits made by the Mint. The report reflects that the Lincoln Cent and the Jefferson Nickel have, once again, proven more expensive to produce than their face values.
The Lincoln Cent cost the Mint 1.99 cents to produce in 2019 when production, administration, and distribution costs are rolled together. The good news is that this is down from the 2.06 cents it cost in 2018. The Jefferson Nickel meanwhile cost 7.62 cents to produce in 2019. That is up from 7.53 cents in 2018. Spot prices of the medals used in the coins were down in 2019 which helped the Mint’s costs for the coins. Nickel was down 1.6% in 2019 while copper prices decreased 9.1% and zinc decreased 15.2%.
It wasn’t all bad news however. The Mint profited from the Roosevelt Dime and Washington Quarter according to the Annual Report. Cost of the Dime was 3.73 cents while the Quarter costs just 9.01 cents. That means that the Dime was the same cost for the Mint to make in 2019 when compared to 2018. The Quarter rose slightly from its cost of 8.87 cents in 2018.
When it comes to seigniorage, the Dime realized $138.8 million in profit for the Mint in 2019 while the Quarter brought in $285.2 million. Seigniorage is the difference between the face value of the coin versus the cost of producing them. These funds are transferred to the Treasury General Fund to help finance the national debit of the United States.
When it comes to bullion, the Mint sold 18.8 million ounces according to the Annual Report. That is an increase of 3.6 million ounces (23.7%) over 2018. Net income however decreased .1% compared to 2018 while revenue was down 17.1% with total revenue at $682.7 million. That is down from the $823.4 million in 2018.
The report is available on the United States Mint site for the general public to review. You can find it here.