Silver demand strong

The Silver price lagged gold for a while this year but now as the spot price is up nearly 7.5% for the year a report by the silver institute shows demand is strong and multifaceted.  ETF’s added 7m oz in June, silver coins sales are up 4.5% globally for the first quarter and US silver Eagles at 24.1m oz for the first half, just shy of the 25m oz sold in the record breaking 2013.  We mentioned in a recent Ainslie Radio that India just reported importing 711 tonne in May taking their YTD to 2254 tonne, similar to their huge 2013 number.  

Industrial demand is increasing too with use in ethylene oxide production up significantly (exp 23% for year to 8m oz), solar up 10% (and India announcing last week it will double renewable energy over 10 years), and semi conductors in electronics up 8.8% and the highest quarter in history.

Investment and industrial demand account for 77% of all demand last year so the above is encouraging.

Interestingly China has been subdued in its imports and analysts Seeking Alpha think that is the one to watch as a trigger for a real jump in demand.  Others have noted they have depleted inventories incredibly this year to critically low levels so it may be imminent.  When you consider the extent of electronics and solar panel demand in China that could well be significant.