2013 Indian official gold and silver numbers

2013 Indian official gold and silver numbers

In the wake of the import restrictions on gold, India officially imported 804 tonne of gold in 2013, down from 999 tonne in 2012.  We should stress “officially” as there are endless reports that demand is being met through high volume smuggling.  Regardless, that pushed premiums up and made silver look more attractive where their official imports were a whopping 6,125 tonne, 189% higher than the 2,115 tonne in 2012.  Consider that available global production is around 2,400 tonne, China imported around 1,500 tonne, add just India’s 800 tonne and you have essentially all global production taken by just 2 countries and represent over 60% of global demand.  Add that on Tuesday India’s trade Minister said he wants to lift the import restrictions!