Physical Silver Investment Set to Surge 27% and Other Silver News

Investment in physical silver is expected to surge by 27% to 236.8 million ounces in 2020, a 5-year high. This was one of the highlights of the annual Interim Silver Market Review highlighted in the December issue of the Silver Institute’s Silver News.

According to the report, the largest retail market for silver bullion bars and coins was the US with a projected 62% gain.

The report also highlighted the strength of silver ETF demand. Investment in silver-backed exchange-traded products surpassed 1 billion ounces, for the first time this year, hitting a record high of 1.062 billion ounces.

Metals Focus expects the silver price to rise by 27% year-over-year to an average of $20.60. This would represent the highest annual average since 2013.

Silver mine production is expected to fall by 6.3% in 2020 to 780 million ounces.

The latest edition of Silver News also highlights some other fascinating technological developments utilizing the white metal.

• Although the global silver jewelry market has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and higher silver prices, jewelry consumption is expected to rise from its current 20% of total demand to 25% of demand by the mid-2020s.
• Dust and dirt accumulating on solar cells, especially in desert areas, lowers their efficiency and requires continual cleaning to keep them efficiently generating electricity. Scientists may have found a solution in a cleaning method that uses a nanocoating of silver oxide, tin oxide, silicon oxide, platinum, ammonia and water that keeps dirt from sticking to the solar panels.
• Reading, UK-based Bullitt Group, a maker of military-grade smartphones, has introduced their first antibacterial phone using the Biomaster silver-based technology.
• Watch battery maker Murata has announced that it has produced over 4 billion units of no-mercury, silver-oxide micro-batteries, saving 7,055 pounds of mercury from potentially entering into the environment from spent batteries.
• Producing silver nanoparticles using plants, fruits and vegetables is growing more common, because the method offers an eco-friendly method combined with low-cost and abundant materials. The method involves synthesizing silver nanoparticles through a process known as chemical reduction, which teases out silver nanoparticles from silver nitrate by introducing the solution to substances with high oxidation properties.