US Mint stops making pennies due to rising production costs

Over the past decade, the total production cost of the penny has risen to 3.69 cents, from 1.3 cents.

The US government is ending production of the penny, citing drastically decreased demand and immediate savings.

US President Trump has instructed the Treasury to stop producing new pennies (Reuters)

The Treasury Department said in a statement that it made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the US Mint will stop making pennies when the inventory of blanks is depleted. The news was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

There are about 114 billion pennies in circulation in the US, but they are severely underutilized, the agency said. Over the past decade, the total production cost of the penny has risen to 3.69 cents, from 1.3 cents.

The Mint projects an immediate annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs from stopping penny production, and additional savings will be achieved as facility usage is adjusted, the Treasury said.

President Donald Trump announced in February that he was directing the Treasury secretary to halt production of the one-cent coin as part of a broader effort to cut waste in the national budget.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” he said in a Truth Social post. “This is so wasteful!”