Silver – more demand, less supply

The Silver Institute and CRU Consulting have released a report predicting a 27% jump in silver use to 680m oz annually by 2018.  Around half of this growth will be in electrical and electronics and the rest in silver oxide-zinc batteries (especially military), EO (Ethylene oxide) a chemical reactive material with a wide range of uses, anti-bacterial / biomedical uses (it is both the best anti bacterial and lowest human toxicity metal), silver coated bearings (especially in aviation), photovoltaic (modest growth despite booming industry as less being needed per PE cell), automotive (approx. 40 silver tipped switches/car), brazing/soldering, and printed inks (using silver nanotechnology in radio frequency identification devices (RFID’s) which is a new and booming industry).  Coincidentally, HSBC just released a report predicting the demand and supply balance for silver will dramatically shift from a 3m oz surplus this year to an 11m oz deficit in 2015.