World is heading towards a cash deficit – report – RT Business News
Global consumption is expected to rise sharply by the end of the year, resulting in the largest gap between supply and demand in decades
The world is on the brink of a severe silver supply shortage this year, the Silver Institute, a US metal monitoring agency, said in its latest report.
Global silver demand from industrial consumers, jewelry and homeware manufacturers and retail investors is expected to rise 16% year-on-year to a new all-time high of 1.21 billion ounces by the end of 2022, according to the published report. on the agency’s official website.
As a result, the silver market faces a multi-year deficit of 194 million ounces of the metal, four times the level seen in 2021 (48 million ounces). Silver stocks in storage in London and New York, which are tracked by COMEX and the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), were already down around 370 million ounces, or 25%, so far this year, the report says.
The agency notes that a major driver of the rising demand for silver is increased consumption by automakers, which is increasing as electronics are used in vehicles. The widespread adoption of 5G technologies and the global trend towards green energy are also impacting demand. For example, producers of solar panels are increasingly hoarding metal. Finally, demand for silver in India has nearly doubled this year as consumers took advantage of low prices to replenish stocks that dwindled in 2020 and 2021.
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Gold slumps to two-year low
Silver prices have fallen about 10% this year to $21 an ounce, largely due to investors selling the metal in response to the strengthening US dollar and surging US bond yields.
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