The world has watched the retail demand for silver spike over the past 2 weeks. But now the tightness has spread into the 1,000 ounce wholesale bar market.
ZeroHedge reported last week how the US Mint has been unable to keep up with the surge in silver demand.
“The US Mint is limiting distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers because of heavy demand, and a limited number of suppliers of metals, it said in a statement.”
Kitco also commented on the “rationing” of certain coins by the Mint.
The U.S. Mint has been rationing the sales of its silver coins due to “continued exceptional market demand” and limited supply, Bloomberg quoted the U.S. Mint as saying on Tuesday.
Yet now the dislocations in the market have spread to the 1,000 ounce wholesale bar level. With multiple dealers reporting increased premiums and delays.
When 4 large silver dealers were asked point blank Wednesday morning if they could fill an order for a customer who wanted to buy $10 million worth of silver and take delivery by the end of the week, not one was able to say they could do it.
Instead, they’re being told by their wholesalers that it would take at least a month, if not longer.
Given the increasing attention being placed on the big silver short position that’s now out in the open for any fund in the world to study, it’s becoming more and more difficult to see how the tightness gets resolved at the current price level.
Especially with so many new eyes on the story, perhaps it’s also worth re-considering if the #silversqueeze is really over yet.**>
I was about to reply negatively to this until I saw the value of the contract... $10 million USD. OK. That might make a difference.
My original reply was that I have a friend in Bangkok who is a gems and jewelry dealer. I asked him if there was any issue with silver shot right now. He told me that there was no shortage at all and could get as much as he wanted immediately.
But he's talking about realistic industrial supplies. I imagine a huge amount for investment could create an issue. But I think you would always have that. If you ask for an obscenely large amount of any commodity, you may have to wait for delivery. In the mean time, if you want to order 500kg of silver shot for jewelry manufacture in Asia there is currently no problem filling the order.
The other question I have is how much of that short position is needed for ordinary commerce. Any industrial supplier who holds silver in inventory is going to have a short position open to hedge against a price drop. How much of that short position is investment banks vs. inventory in legitimate businesses? Has anyone calculated those figures?
ZeroHedge reported last week how the US Mint has been unable to keep up with the surge in silver demand.
“The US Mint is limiting distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers because of heavy demand, and a limited number of suppliers of metals, it said in a statement.”
Kitco also commented on the “rationing” of certain coins by the Mint.
The U.S. Mint has been rationing the sales of its silver coins due to “continued exceptional market demand” and limited supply, Bloomberg quoted the U.S. Mint as saying on Tuesday.
Yet now the dislocations in the market have spread to the 1,000 ounce wholesale bar level. With multiple dealers reporting increased premiums and delays.
When 4 large silver dealers were asked point blank Wednesday morning if they could fill an order for a customer who wanted to buy $10 million worth of silver and take delivery by the end of the week, not one was able to say they could do it.
Instead, they’re being told by their wholesalers that it would take at least a month, if not longer.
Given the increasing attention being placed on the big silver short position that’s now out in the open for any fund in the world to study, it’s becoming more and more difficult to see how the tightness gets resolved at the current price level.
Especially with so many new eyes on the story, perhaps it’s also worth re-considering if the #silversqueeze is really over yet.**>
I was about to reply negatively to this until I saw the value of the contract... $10 million USD. OK. That might make a difference.
My original reply was that I have a friend in Bangkok who is a gems and jewelry dealer. I asked him if there was any issue with silver shot right now. He told me that there was no shortage at all and could get as much as he wanted immediately.
But he's talking about realistic industrial supplies. I imagine a huge amount for investment could create an issue. But I think you would always have that. If you ask for an obscenely large amount of any commodity, you may have to wait for delivery. In the mean time, if you want to order 500kg of silver shot for jewelry manufacture in Asia there is currently no problem filling the order.
The other question I have is how much of that short position is needed for ordinary commerce. Any industrial supplier who holds silver in inventory is going to have a short position open to hedge against a price drop. How much of that short position is investment banks vs. inventory in legitimate businesses? Has anyone calculated those figures?