I see increasing surplus listed as "Implied Net Investment" ie we don't know where it is therefore it is sitting somewhere like a silver bar. We will run out of silver when we stop digging up tonnes of dirt for things like copper, lead, zinc, etc. When industry needs metals they will also get more silver. Correlation between copper and silver prices
Flip side is though - if the base metal demand (in this case uranium but could be a number of others) increases it can cause an oversupply of silver and drive the price down heavily. malachii
drive down prices ftw But seriously most of us are in PMs as we can clearly see the future economic situation
in my home country we have a saying and translated version goes like this "the judge is suing you and also preciding over your court proceedngs" so in a way you allready know what will happen. If I was JPM and wanted to be a major player in silver I would be the one who would start up places like silver institute and others (unofficialy) having them basically do my bidding yet try to pretend to be neutral, Few years ago when McDonalds got the heart tick on their meals was really weird but i guess a few hefty contributions to help the organisation out would do the trick or more recently the world cup bid by Qatar
U mean ,,kadija te tuzi , kadija ti sudi'' i get this from friend yesterday: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureate.s/2010/press.html I think this will drop demand for copper significantly
That looks to me like most of the extra demand is coming for Coins and Medals and Implied Net Investment (Industrial applications has gone up but not by much as a percentage). Makes sense when you think about it. If you have a 1kg bar at home think how many solar panels or mobile phones can be made with just that 1kg of silver considering how little silver is required in each one. The price rises are all about people hoarding it due to lack of faith in the monetary system at this point in time and a belief that prices will keep going up that is spreading more and more. That will come to an end at some point. It's fairly clear to me that silver at some point will become a bubble and then crash. At some point most (but not all) people's faith in the monetary system will be restored. Silver is a rocket that will fall back to Earth after it gets to whatever the highs will be, not an elevator that gets there and stops.
So what, you think we are going back to gold and silver coins for trade? Even if hyperinflation happens a new monetary system will be created afterwards. Maybe a new Gold Standard will be formed before something like that happens. Whatever happens, there will be a point where people largely will be happy with money again. What, so you think we are headed into some Mad Max world? Complete breakdown of the monetary system? Nobody wanting to restore it? They'll do the right thing eventually, it will just take a really long time.
Suspect a world wide FIAT currency backed by good faith in sensible government. But there is no need to postulate... all we need to do is watch
We are talking about the masses faith in the currency, not yours, not mine, but people in general. And they want to believe in and will believe in a currency as long as it has some level of stability. Regardless of what you or I individually think. That's why fiat (for a considerable time) works when it seems like it shouldn't. Everyone could know the truth of the fiat system tomorrow and I bet it would still be working. Because people want it to. They would say "that's interesting" and then get back to their lives. That's what I was referring to. People think this is about some fundamentals or whatever. If it was then fiat would have collapsed by now instead it's lasted 40 years and still going (atm). To me it is primarily about mass psychology.
depends how badly you get burned as to how it affects you. I suspect if things go the same way they are going a lot of people will get burned so badly that it will take at least generation to get over it, but your right people forget and history repeats.
yeh - but that'll only be after Ron Paul is elected president ... and the tooth fairy will be coming to visit as well.
Yes - some people will trade directly with gold and silver, and others will trade with money backed 100% by gold and/or silver. The days of currency backed by sweet f..all is coming to an abrupt end. SAVVY???
There's plenty of silver in the ground and when it comes to industrial applications it's all about the flow not the stock. You have the same mentality of the houses to the moon people who harp on about how a housing shortage is going to keep prices of houses going up forever. ie. your silver shortage(now and in the future) is a myth
The number I usually read is about 30% of silver production is from silver mining and 70% is from by-product mining.
NM, Agree that the 'supply' side of the equation is rising, but so is the 'demand' side. Every time we "stackers" here get a delivery it goes in its hiding place and is lost to the total. Industry demand is going up and so is investment, both remove silver from the supply/demand charts. We all know how long it now takes to get out paws on an order, MUCH longer than 5 years ago. We are very unlikely to see all the 'stacks' of silver re-enter the supply side of the equation any time soon. It is different with gold, it is produced, sold, stored and re-sold, almost on a daily basis, and there is virtually NO industrial usage. JMNHO, OC
On the subject of mining silver, back when I was a schoolboy, MANY years ago, my science master said that silver was usually found in conjunction with lead and zinc. Sometimes other metals., but mainly lead and zinc. If the demand for lead and zinc falls due to lower industrial activity and the mines close, then 'supply' will go down and the price will go up. At some point, the mines will re-open. OC
