NEW YORK, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Mint, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the country, has made its final order of penny blanks and plans to stop producing the coin when those run out, a department official confirmed on Thursday.
"An immediate annual savings of 56 million U.S. dollars in reduced material costs is expected by stopping penny production," The Associated Press cited the official.
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had ordered his administration to cease production of the 1-cent coin.
"Advocates for ditching the penny cite its high production cost, almost 4 cents per penny now, according to the U.S. Mint, and limited utility," noted the report. Fans of the penny cite its usefulness in charity drives and relative bargain in production costs compared with the nickel, which costs almost 14 cents to mint.
