Roaring Indian Silver Demand

In this recent article we talked of the surging use of silver for solar panels.  But as mentioned in Friday’s Weekly Wrap, AFTER this study was undertaken India have announced a significant increase in their solar power expansion, with solar exceeding wind for the first time ever and an investment of $200b over the next 7 years.   Last year India shocked the world by importing an incredible 7063 tonne of silver.  In the first 4 months of 2015 they have imported around 3000 tonne.  Whilst it is a little premature to simply extrapolate that figure to a year for 2015, that figure would be 9000 tonne, a 27% increase on the already record 7063 of 2014.  After last week’s announcement such an extrapolation may well be conservative but it is worth noting too that much of the demand is India’s citizens, many of whom turned to investment silver as their Government increased restrictions on gold.  So how does 9000 tonne fit in to the big picture?  Well it equates to a staggering 1/3 of global silver production!