Total Silver Investment May Increase by One Billion Ounces Over the Next Decade

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - Oct 22, 2014) - Investors are likely to increase their net silver purchases in the years ahead, largely due to an ongoing weak global economy, for capital preservation and silver's pedigree as a leading industrial metal, according to a report released today by the Silver Institute. The report, entitled "Silver Investment Demand," suggests that investors may accumulate as much as one billion additional ounces of silver in various investment instruments over the next decade. This is on top of the more than 860 million ounces of silver purchased as an investment since 2006.

Other significant points of the "Silver Investment Demand" report include:

• Investment demand remains the single most important driver of prices in the silver market;
• The silver market is the second largest of the precious metals markets, behind only gold in terms of the value of metal flowing through the market on an annual basis;
• The dollar value of the silver market, which includes trading volumes on the major futures and options exchanges and clearing volumes of the London over the counter market, combined with newly refined silver supply, stood at US$5.1 billion in 2013;
• At the close of 2013, at least 2.3 billion ounces of silver were held in bars and coins around the world;
• With silver producer mining costs declining, there are strong reasons to expect mining company equities to rise in the near term. In the long term, investors are likely to benefit from buying silver mining equities; and
• The silver market, when compared to the gold market, is a much more volatile market and investors are able to receive a much bigger response in the price of silver than that of gold.

The report, produced by the CPM Group, a New York-based metals consultancy, takes a broad look into the components making up silver investment demand, including bullion & coins, futures and options, exchange traded products and silver mining equities. It also examines other important areas of the investment complex and contains an outlook for silver investment demand.

"This timely publication underscores silver's important role as a trusted investment," stated Michael DiRienzo, Executive Director of the Silver Institute. "Even in these days of precious metal price volatility, we are seeing areas of growth within the silver investment arena. This year's progression in silver exchange traded funds, for example, suggests that investors are very keen to acquire and hold the white metal."

Click this link to download a free copy of the report: Silver Investment Demand Report

The Silver Institute is a nonprofit international industry association headquartered in Washington, D.C. Established in 1971, the Institute's members include leading silver producers, prominent silver refiners, manufacturers and dealers. The Institute serves as the industry's voice in increasing public understanding of the many uses and value of silver, and also creates programs across many platforms that benefit the white metal. For more information on the Silver Institute, or silver in general, please visit: www.silverinstitute.org.