Although several silver asset classes had their struggles last year, including commodities, there were three very positive developments in the 2018 silver market that helped raise silver demand up 4% in 2018, according to the Silver Institute’s new World Silver Survey 2019. Here are three of their significant findings:
“First, total silver demand increased for the first time since 2015, rising 4 percent to 1.03 billion ounces. Second, there was a robust recovery in retail investment, led principally by silver bar demand, which climbed sharply last year. Third, on the supply side, global mine supply fell for the third consecutive year, following a continuous streak of 13 annual increases before 2016. Silver scrap supply has been in retreat since 2012 and fell by nearly 2 percent last year. These factors led to another tightening of the supply/demand balance, contributing to a physical deficit of 29.2 million ounces (Moz) in 2018.”
The World Silver Survey 2019 is available as a downloadable PDF from the Institute’s website at silverinstitute.org