Silver and other precious metals enjoyed safe-haven demand as the equities market plunged into a correction. The metal also maintained its momentum as the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rate outlook to only one or two hikes this year from a previously expected four rate hikes.
“Whilst the total demand for silver also decreased to 1.028 billion ounces, 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with a supply deficit. Sure, the deficit was just 21 million ounces, but that’s entirely due to the lower demanf for jewelry and investment purposes. As you can clearly see in the same table, the demand from those two end-uses was 519 million ounces in 2015, but fell to just 414 million ounces in 2016, a decrease of 105 million ounces,” according to ZeroHedge.
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Looking ahead, the ongoing negative interest rate environment, with European and Japanese central banks cutting benchmark rates deeper into the red to promote growth, could push investors toward precious metals as a more stable store of wealth.
Moreover, unlike gold, silver sees much higher industrial demand. The precious metal enjoys heavy industrial demand that benefits from an expanding global economy.
For more information on the silver market, visit our silver category.