Silver stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) have improved slightly after reaching a 10-year low, but the shortage of physical silver in the global market still remains a cause for concern. On February 9, the silver stock on the exchange had fallen to 318.546 tonnes, which is the lowest level in almost a decade. After this, on February 11, it increased to 342.102 tonnes.
Although this increase seems to be a relief, the current stock is about 89% less than the record of 3,091.112 tonnes on January 12, 2021. This means that in the last four years there has been a huge decline in the reserves of silver available on the exchange.
huge fluctuations in prices
In the last one year, there has been a tremendous rise and fall in the prices of silver. Due to heavy buying by investors, prices more than doubled and crossed $ 100 an ounce for the first time in January. This brought the gold-to-silver ratio below 50, which happened for the first time since 2012.
However, at the end of January there was a record one-day fall in prices, which caused panic in the market. Later the prices fell below $80, but now there are signs of some stability again. Still, there is instability in the market.
There will be loss for the sixth year also
According to the Silver Institute report, the global silver market may remain in loss for the sixth consecutive year in 2026. Retail investment demand is expected to increase by 20% to 227 million ounces. At the same time, due to high prices, there may be a decline in demand for jewelery and silverware.
Despite a 1.5% increase in supply, total production is estimated at 1.05 billion ounces, which will not be enough to meet demand. According to the report, there may be a loss of about 67 million ounces, which may further increase the already existing tightness in the market.