LONDON (Commodity Online): Even as the world is going ga-ga over the gold and its soaring prices, the yellow metal’s cousin — silver — is all set to hog the limelight this year.
Now, silver production worldwide can’t keep up with world demand, and the need for silver is growing daily. This is all set to cause a huge price gain for silver in the coming days. Reasons for this are many.
Unlike gold, silver is consumable in most industrial uses. In 1942, the US government had over 3 billion ounces of silver, but they ran completely out several years ago and over 90% of all the silver mined in the past 5,000 years has been used up, and is gone forever.
There is more than five times as much gold in the known world supply compared to the world supply of silver. Current world silver demand is around 900 million ounces per year, but the average worldwide production of silver is only 480 million ounces. In other words, we are only producing just over half the silver we use every year.
Gold has been going through roof, but silver has yet to follow. The Gold/Silver Price Ratio (currently 51:1) has skewed way out of the historical norm (20:1). World demand is growing, but the US Geological Survey says there is only about 14 to 25 years worth of silver left in the ground.
Compared to gold, silver is still relatively cheap even though it’s already risen nearly 100% this year alone.
Meanwhile, silver coin sales are set to climb as investors seek to protect their wealth from weakening currencies, according to the Perth Mint, producer of about 6 percent of the world’s gold bullion.
The mint, founded in 1899, also wants to sell more gold to China even as it scales back production rates from the peak levels seen last year after the 2008 financial crisis.
The mint’s outlook adds to signs that global demand for silver, which trades for about 50 times less than gold per ounce, will increase. The Royal Canadian Mint said last week that silver coin sales will jump more than 50 percent this year. The Perth Mint may match that gain.
