Silver Demand Projected to Set Records in 2022 and Other Silver News

Silver demand in 2022 is expected to chart an all-time high.

This is one of several silver-related stories in the latest edition of Silver News published by the Silver Institute.

Sliver demand is projected to reach a new high of 1.21 billion ounces. That would be a 16% increase from 2021.

Industrial demand is on course to grow to 539 million ounces mainly driven by ongoing vehicle electrification, the growing acceptance of 5G technologies, and government commitments to green infrastructure – particularly solar power.

While silver has flowed out of ETFs due to tepid institutional interest, demand for physical has been robust. Silver bar and silver coin demand is expected to jump by 18% year-on-year.

Support was due to investor fears of high inflation, the Russia-Ukraine war, recessionary concerns, and buying on price dips. The rise was boosted further by a near-doubling of Indian demand, with investors often taking advantage of lower rupee prices.”

Silver jewelry and silverware were set to surge by 29% and 72% respectively to 235 million ounces and 73 million ounces in 2022.

With mine production only projected to increase by 1%, the global silver market is forecast to record a second consecutive annual deficit in 2022. At 194 million ounces, this will be a multi-decade high and four times the level seen in 2021.

The latest edition of Silver News also highlights some other fascinating technological advances utilizing the white metal, along with some developments in the silver market. Here are some highlights.

• NASA has developed a silver ion engine to propel spacecraft. The system uses solid silver as the fuel source accompanied by an electrolyte composed of silver film.
• A Canadian photographer is documenting landscapes of that country’s Rocky Mountains but not with modern, digital imaging. Instead, former tour company operator Bill Hao is using a 19th-century method known as ‘collodion wet plate,’ which relies on silver-based chemicals that he uses to process photos in his 50-seat bus converted into a mobile darkroom.
• From the Silent Generation (born before 1945) to the Gen Z Generation (born 1996 to the mid-2000’s), each demographic has its own approach to buying silver jewelry, and these habits are explored in a new Silver Institute Market Trend Report, Trends in Silver Jewelry Purchases.
• Researchers at the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have shown that kiwifruit harvests can largely be saved from natural bacteria rot with silver applications.
• ‘Election ink’ is used to dab the fingers of voters in many countries including India, Afghanistan and Peru as a way to mitigate election fraud. Without silver, however, this essentially foolproof system would not be possible for the more than 30 countries that currently use election ink or have done so in the past.
• UK scientists at the University of Sussex have made polyurethane even more useful by adding silver nanoparticles. Not only does this take advantage of silver’s antibacterial properties, making it especially useful in hospital environments (door handles, tables, etc.) or on medical equipment, but they also found that adding silver nanoparticles actually increased the coating’s strength and toughness.