I have a couple kilos of silver and it is a bit mind-boggling to check the price once a week and see it go up 2-3x what a year long term deposit would.
I don't think there is much additional industrial demand, it is just speculation due to the state of world economies and governments not holding much trust these days and people expecting depressions or currency collapses in the near future. It just a cheaper version of holding gold.
No, it’s a supply side issue. There aren’t as many silver only mines out there anymore, so ramping up production to meet demand is difficult.
Most silver extraction is actually done in copper or gold mines. But you can’t ramp up silver production in those mines because the silver output is actually a waste product from the primary metal being extracted in those mines.
Demand is rising but silver supply is relatively inelastic, resulting in the price going up.
But where is that demand coming from? Silver prices didn't go up when we switched to silver solder. The only reason for silver to have been rising in the last few years is speculative demand because there are no new large scale applications or scaled uses that line up with price changes. Yes demand is up, but not from using that much more silver in things, but to hold onto silver as an investment or to hedge against inflation. Just like how golds industrial value is not nearly as high as its speculative value, but industrial users still have to pay the price that speculators are paying to get it.
The silver paste used in photovoltaics is about 90% silver IIRC. There have been many months of a big expansion of photovoltaic manufacturing in China for export.
I've seen speculative claims that it will be essential for battery anodes. But I have no idea what quantities are involved, and whether it reflects real industrial demand or is wishcasting by rock aficionados.
I know the article mentions increasing industrial demand without any other details, but I was under the impression precious metals were going up as investors were trying to hedge against uncertainty with the current market
Trading volume was very high. SLV had 138M today versus 24-78M range over the last month. https://www.investing.com/etfs/ishares-silver-trust-historic...
What is the increasing industrial demand?
I have a couple kilos of silver and it is a bit mind-boggling to check the price once a week and see it go up 2-3x what a year long term deposit would.
I don't think there is much additional industrial demand, it is just speculation due to the state of world economies and governments not holding much trust these days and people expecting depressions or currency collapses in the near future. It just a cheaper version of holding gold.
No, it’s a supply side issue. There aren’t as many silver only mines out there anymore, so ramping up production to meet demand is difficult.
Most silver extraction is actually done in copper or gold mines. But you can’t ramp up silver production in those mines because the silver output is actually a waste product from the primary metal being extracted in those mines.
Demand is rising but silver supply is relatively inelastic, resulting in the price going up.
But where is that demand coming from? Silver prices didn't go up when we switched to silver solder. The only reason for silver to have been rising in the last few years is speculative demand because there are no new large scale applications or scaled uses that line up with price changes. Yes demand is up, but not from using that much more silver in things, but to hold onto silver as an investment or to hedge against inflation. Just like how golds industrial value is not nearly as high as its speculative value, but industrial users still have to pay the price that speculators are paying to get it.
The silver paste used in photovoltaics is about 90% silver IIRC. There have been many months of a big expansion of photovoltaic manufacturing in China for export.
I've seen speculative claims that it will be essential for battery anodes. But I have no idea what quantities are involved, and whether it reflects real industrial demand or is wishcasting by rock aficionados.
There doesn't seem to be much of a (new) demand: https://silverinstitute.org/silver-supply-demand/
This could just be speculators driving up the price...
I know the article mentions increasing industrial demand without any other details, but I was under the impression precious metals were going up as investors were trying to hedge against uncertainty with the current market