Solar photovoltaics
Many solar cells use silver paste to conduct electricity, so solar manufacturing is often discussed as a source of demand. The amount of silver used per cell can change as technology evolves.
Silver Market Insights
Educational commentary on the forces that shape the silver market: supply and demand, the economic backdrop and industry trends.
Please read: The commentary below is general education. It is not current market news, it is not a forecast, and it may not reflect today’s conditions. No live prices or real-time charts are shown on this site. Market commentary can become outdated and does not guarantee future outcomes. See our Disclosures.
Market updates
Dated Market Updates
Updates about specific market developments will appear here, each with a publication date and sources.
No market updates have been published yet
Silver Money has not published any dated market updates. When it does, they will be listed here. Until then, the educational sections below explain the forces that market updates typically discuss.
Read about supply and demandEvery update will show
- The date it was published, and the date any data was retrieved
- Links to the original data sources
- A clear distinction between reported facts and commentary or opinion
- A note when the information may be out of date
Supply and demand
Where Silver Comes From and Where It Goes
The silver market connects a relatively slow-moving supply with demand from several very different groups.
Supply
- Mine production, much of it as a by-product of lead, zinc, copper and gold mining
- Recycling of scrap from industry, jewellery and silverware
- Sales from existing holdings, such as investors or institutions selling metal
Demand
- Industry: electronics, solar cells, brazing, chemicals and more
- Jewellery and silverware
- Investment: bars, coins and exchange-traded products
- Photography, now a much smaller use than in the past
Why supply adjusts slowly
Because so much silver is produced alongside other metals, mine output often depends on the economics of those metals as much as on silver itself. Developing a new mine typically takes many years. Recycling can respond more quickly, since higher prices make it worthwhile to recover more scrap.
Reading supply and demand estimates
Industry bodies such as the Silver Institute publish annual estimates of supply and demand. These are estimates, often revised later, and different sources can produce different figures. When reading a claim of a “deficit” or “surplus”, check the source, the year and how it was calculated.
Economic context
The Economic Backdrop
Silver responds to the wider economy in more than one way at once. These are the connections most commonly discussed. None of them is a reliable rule.
Interest rates
Physical silver pays no interest. When rates on savings and bonds are higher, holding non-yielding assets can look relatively less attractive. In practice, this relationship has varied over time.
The US dollar
Global silver prices are mostly quoted in US dollars. Changes in the dollar’s value can affect demand from buyers using other currencies, and change the price Canadians see in Canadian dollars.
Economic growth
Stronger manufacturing activity can support industrial demand, while slowdowns can reduce it. Investment demand may move differently, which makes the combined effect hard to predict.
Inflation expectations
Some investors buy precious metals when they are concerned about inflation. Whether silver has protected purchasing power has depended heavily on the time period examined.
For Canadian readers: the price of silver in Canadian dollars reflects both the US-dollar silver price and the USD/CAD exchange rate. You can find official daily exchange rates from the Bank of Canada.
Industry developments
Industrial Themes to Understand
Long-running themes that often come up in discussions of industrial silver demand. They are explained here as concepts, not as predictions.
Electronics and electrification
Silver is used in switches, contacts and circuitry, including in vehicles and household devices. Growth in electronic content can increase use, while miniaturization can reduce it.
Thrifting and substitution
When silver is expensive, manufacturers look for ways to use less of it or replace it with cheaper materials. This can limit how much industrial demand grows.
Market education
Seeing Volatility
Silver is often described as volatile. This chart shows what that means, using made-up data for two hypothetical assets that start at the same value.
Illustrative data — not real prices
Hypothetical example: lower vs. higher volatility
Two hypothetical assets, each indexed to 100 at week 0, over 52 weeks. The values are generated for illustration only. They are not silver prices or any real market data.
This chart needs JavaScript. The same hypothetical data is described in the text above.
Use the left and right arrow keys to move between weeks. Home and End jump to the first and last week.
View the hypothetical data as a table
What the example shows
Both hypothetical assets begin at 100. Asset B moves much further in both directions, so at any point it could be well above or well below where it started. Higher volatility means a wider range of possible outcomes, including larger losses.
Reading real price charts
- Check the currency, the unit (usually per troy ounce) and the time period.
- Look at whether the vertical axis starts at zero; a narrow range can exaggerate moves.
- Note whether the data is live, delayed or end-of-day, and who supplied it.
- Remember that past movements do not indicate future direction.
Build the Fundamentals First
Market commentary makes more sense once you understand how silver is priced and what drives it.