http://www.zerohedge.com/article/eric-sprotts-double-barreled-silver-issue As we outlined in our Sprott Physical Silver Trust prospectus and our June MAAG article, the physical silver market is surprisingly small in US dollar terms. The CPM Group estimates that above ground stocks of physical silver total 1.184 billion ounces in bar and coin form, implying a total silver market size of a mere US$33.15 billion dollars.7 At the end of 2009, approximately 500 million ounces of that 1.184 billion were already accounted for by the silver ETF's and other large holders. This left approximately 684 million ounces of silver available for sale in 2010. That is hardly enough, in our opinion, to satiate demand. The money flows into silver in November 2010 have been staggering. Consider the investment demand generated from only two sources: the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) and US Mint coin sales. The SLV added approximately 18 million ounces of silver in November alone; the US Mint sold 4.2 million ounces of silver coins. If you multiply these amounts against today's silver price of $28, money is flowing into the silver market at an annualized rate of $7.5 billion dollars! At that rate of demand, it won't take long before all the remaining above ground silver is spoken for. Something smells here. Perhaps its assuming that the paper funds are actually holding 100% silver. All the above ground silver IS spoken for, perhaps many times over. Given silver's long history of disappointments, it may be time to separate the fundamentals from the spruiking of salesmen. Annualised and actual are two different things, especially when starting a whole new fund.
Could you imagine that! wow . if the music stops and that is true it sure will be an interesting show. I would hate to be on the wrong side of that trade.
