Silver prices jumped to over $29.80 an ounce on Friday, their highest price for 11 years.
Prices rallied to a high of $29.84 an ounce – the highest price for silver since February 2013 – although prices fell back later to trade at just above $28.00 an ounce.
The latest gains for silver came as gold prices continued their recent rally to hit an all-time high of $2,431 an ounce on Friday.
The precious metals complex has been pushed higher by investment flows into safe-haven assets amid heightened geopolitical tensions around the world, and this has overshadowed the bearish influence of what now seem to be fading chances of interest rate cuts by major central banks this summer.
On the demand side, attention last week switched to India – the world’s largest consumer of silver. India’s silver imports surged to a record 2,295 metric tons in February, compared with 637 mt in January, the Economic Times of India reported last week.
This was reportedly due to lower duties which encouraged large purchases from the United Arab Emirates. Market sources were quoted as saying this was due to Indian industrials re-building stocks of silver, having depleted them in 2023.
And looking at the global picture, industry group The Silver Institute had said earlier in the year that 2024 was expected to see a structural supply deficit for silver for the third straight year, with global demand outstripping supply. Most demand sources for silver actually fell in 2023, although industrial demand bucked the bearish trend.
Silver’s role as an important industrial metal is set to see demand rise over the long term as the energy transition drives a need for the white metal in applications as diverse as solar panels, electric vehicles, batteries and consumer electronics. Silver also finds uses in other industries including medical and healthcare applications, water treatment and aerospace technology. Approximately 50% of demand for silver worldwide comes from the industrial sectors.
Frank’s experience covering the commodities markets spans 22 years, with a particular specialism in metals, carbon and energy markets. He has worked as a senior editor for S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts) and before this, at ICIS-LOR, a part of Reed Business Information (Reed Elsevier), where he covered the petrochemicals markets from 2003 to 2005.
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