Silver Investment Demand Surges 30% As Silver ETF Holdings Robust

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/08/2013 - 07:40

The Bloomberg Chart of the Day shows silver tonnage in exchange- traded funds backed by the metal rose for four straight months, while holdings for gold ETPs dropped in January and February. Silver futures may jump 20 percent this year to $34.50 an ounce from yesterday’s settlement of $28.808 in New York on investment demand and industrial use, said Rohit Savant, a senior commodity analyst at the New York-based research company. Holdings in silver ETPs rose 3.6 percent in the two months ended Feb. 28, reaching a record 19,699 metric tons on Jan. 18, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Last month, assets in gold ETPs fell 4.1%. Sales of American Eagle silver coins by the U.S. Mint jumped to a record in January and more than doubled in February from a year earlier, the Mint’s website showed. China’s imports of the metal surged 14% in January, the biggest monthly gain since July.