Most Popular
1. Banking Crisis is Stocks Bull Market Buying Opportunity - Nadeem_Walayat
2.The Crypto Signal for the Precious Metals Market - P_Radomski_CFA
3. One Possible Outcome to a New World Order - Raymond_Matison
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
5. Apple AAPL Stock Trend and Earnings Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
6.AI, Stocks, and Gold Stocks – Connected After All - P_Radomski_CFA
7.Stock Market CHEAT SHEET - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.US Debt Ceiling Crisis Smoke and Mirrors Circus - Nadeem_Walayat
9.Silver Price May Explode - Avi_Gilburt
10.More US Banks Could Collapse -- A Lot More- EWI
Last 7 days
Stock Market Volatility (VIX) - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Investor Sentiment - 25th Mar 24
The Federal Reserve Didn't Do Anything But It Had Plenty to Say - 25th Mar 24
Stock Market Breadth - 24th Mar 24
Stock Market Margin Debt Indicator - 24th Mar 24
It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - 24th Mar 24
Stocks: What to Make of All This Insider Selling- 24th Mar 24
Money Supply Continues To Fall, Economy Worsens – Investors Don’t Care - 24th Mar 24
Get an Edge in the Crypto Market with Order Flow - 24th Mar 24
US Presidential Election Cycle and Recessions - 18th Mar 24
US Recession Already Happened in 2022! - 18th Mar 24
AI can now remember everything you say - 18th Mar 24
Bitcoin Crypto Mania 2024 - MicroStrategy MSTR Blow off Top! - 14th Mar 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - 11th Mar 24
Gold and the Long-Term Inflation Cycle - 11th Mar 24
Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - 11th Mar 24
Two Reasons The Fed Manipulates Interest Rates - 11th Mar 24
US Dollar Trend 2024 - 9th Mar 2024
The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - 9th Mar 2024
Investors Don’t Believe the Gold Rally, Still Prefer General Stocks - 9th Mar 2024
Paper Gold Vs. Real Gold: It's Important to Know the Difference - 9th Mar 2024
Stocks: What This "Record Extreme" Indicator May Be Signaling - 9th Mar 2024
My 3 Favorite Trade Setups - Elliott Wave Course - 9th Mar 2024
Bitcoin Crypto Bubble Mania! - 4th Mar 2024
US Interest Rates - When WIll the Fed Pivot - 1st Mar 2024
S&P Stock Market Real Earnings Yield - 29th Feb 2024
US Unemployment is a Fake Statistic - 29th Feb 2024
U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - 29th Feb 2024
What a Breakdown in Silver Mining Stocks! What an Opportunity! - 29th Feb 2024
Why AI will Soon become SA - Synthetic Intelligence - The Machine Learning Megatrend - 29th Feb 2024
Keep Calm and Carry on Buying Quantum AI Tech Stocks - 19th Feb 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Silver a Strategic Metal?

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2011 Jun 02, 2011 - 06:55 AM GMT

By: Anthony_David

Commodities

The global demand for silver has exceeded annual production since 1990. In fact, demand has grown by close to 26% since 1995. The demand for silver originates from both industrial and investment sources and that gives the metal a high potential for growth.


Emerging technologies have brought silver to the limelight once again. As most of the new uses have become available for mainstream use only recently, therefore making the market global promising. Silver is used in the electrical, medical, pharmaceutical, and water purification industries. In fact, the technology sector was the driving force behind the 18% growth in the industrial production of silver in 2010.

The metal is becoming an important component of solar panels, cell phones, and computers. Silver zinc batteries may soon replace lithium ion batteries in laptops and cell phones. Such batteries have a 40-50% higher longevity than lithium ion batteries. The technology is already being promoted by Apple Inc. Display screens and plasma TV use about an ounce of silver in every screen.

Mechanical uses of silver include the treatment of windows with double layers of silver to reflect heat from the sun. Silver is a natural biocide and has many bio medical uses too. It is used in medical devices, bandages and clothing. In recent times, the highest demand for silver has come from the solder industry. The annual demand from the industry has grown by almost 100% over the last decade.

China may soon become the leading market for silver with increasing demand from the country’s industrial and fabrication sectors. In fact, China may soon compete with USA and Japan in terms of requirements. China has seen a 20% increase in its demand for silver. Whereas the country earlier exported 100 million ounces of silver, it now imports 112 million ounces.

Statistics show that the amount of silver available per capita is at its lowest today while the investment power is at its highest. In China and India, the demand from the investment industry is quite significant. Analysts are of the opinion that as the economic crisis continues to plague nations and civil unrest becomes more common, citizens will continue to lose faith in their governments’ abilities to manage crisis situations and in such cases, prices of precious metals such as silver and gold will always increase.

While banks around the world deal with fiscal issues, more and more paper currency is expected to flood the global marketplace. Silver is one of the few goods that this excess money will chase and that will also hike up the price of silver.

There is already a supply shortage that large investors are experiencing. According to Sprott Asset Management and others, the forward looking prices indicate a shortage too. The price ‘backwardation’ observed is also an indication of supply shortage.

Silver prices gained over 77% between February and the end of April this year, most likely as a result of loose monetary policies and low interest rates. On the positive side, silver prices are undergoing a correction. Between April 25 and May 12, silver prices fell by 32% from $49.79 to $32.65. However, in spite of the correction, the fundamental outlook for the silver market in the long-term is still very positive.

By Anthony David

http://www.criticalstrategicmetals.com

The mission of the Critical Strategic Metals Web Site

is to serve as a monthly compass for those who take a fundamental view of investment regarding the Molybdenum, Manganese and Magnesium metals markets, are concerned with the emerging critical under-supply of these strategic metals to Western nations and wish to profitability chart their course. Each month we will research and provide, in as short and concise a manner as possible, the most applicable information available on resources that will have the biggest impact on our day to day lives. Click here to sign-up for our FREE monthly report.

© 2011 Copyright  Anthony David- All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.


© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in