Any One Stacking Silver Bullion

Ive been adding 1 or 2 oz here and there when I can afford it. Tough times right now. Got laid off of work for a few months. Too bad because I would love to add another 10oz right now. I like to just keep buying regardless of the spot prices usually only 1 or 2 oz every few weeks and when I think that it may go up a bit and spot is down, I like to add 5 or 10oz. I saw a quote once and I forget who it was by but it went... "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time to plant a tree is today" So with that said , thats why I am always buying even if it's just a bit... Dont wanna be 20 years down the road thinking how I didnt plant my tree 20 years prior.

Looking at the world silver demand, we see that most sectors are in constant decline; from 2001 to 2010 photography went from 213M oz down to 73M oz, silverware went from 103M oz down to 50M oz, while jewelry declined 174M oz down to 167M oz.

During that period, industrial applications demand did increase from 350M to 487M oz, but given that silver is a major component in electronics and semiconductors, we understand why silver demand was low during 2001-2003. Silver demand peaked in 2007-08 and has been in decline since then.

Not surprisingly, the only significant increase in demand during this period has been for coins and medals, rising from 30M to over 101M oz, which is purely as a result of increased demand from investors. Indeed, production has almost tripled just in the past 3 years.

What is interesting to see is that, during this 10 year period, the increased supply of silver needed for all major sectors combined could have been provided by reclaiming scrap. In other words, even if mining production had not increased, we would have enough silver to sustain our production growth.

Remember also that industries have the nasty habit of finding cheaper, smarter ways to build things. If they can use other technologies or alloys to do the same thing, they will. Thus, demand of silver from the manufacturing sector is unpredictable, and will obviously trend opposite to its cost.

In the end, demand of silver has increased because of speculation/hoarding. The true fundamentals for silver may eventually hit hard, and investors could jettison their stash in a flash, causing a major meltdown in prices. So accumulation of silver is probably not the right thing to do now.

Of course I may be totally off base... but that's my take on it.

I would like to see the sources too please!

My comment was based on my own interpretation of what I know about the technology sectors, and based on data from the silver institute.

http://www.silverinstitute.org/site/supply-demand/

poboxw, some predicted $100 by x-mass a year ago and obviously that didn't happen. I am not bearish/bull - just pragmatic. There is enough scrap silver in basements to sustain consumption for several generations to come...

You are correct though, silver isn't easily replaced in electronics. But device size and film thickness continue to decrease every year. Silver consumption does not follow Moore's Law.

But I do have a few ounces... so I would be happy to be wrong.

The numbers say otherwise though. I've read varying estimates and suppose that one day everything would have to be recycled from scrap, but according to the silverinstitude link provided, 215 million oz is the amount of salvaged scrap silver in 2010, and 1,056 million oz was the demand. $100/oz silver may be pushing it, but I don't see why another run up to $50 is unreasonable.



But over 50% is not 99%. Double edged swords can be swung both ways. Industrial demand was not the key player in silver's run up during 2008, nor was it near proportional to silver's steep climb through 2010-11. It was silver's dual role as a safe haven/investment that drove these runs.




I'm still betting long on silver (and gold) but even if I have all of my savings in silver, I would still be unsure if a steep rise in the price of silver will be a good thing.
With silver's dual industrial and safe haven/investment roles, a steep as oppose to gradual increase in the price of sliver likely means that the buying power of the dollar (or loonie) is diving the other way. At best I would retain the total buying power (value) of my assets if it was all silver. (I often forget we use currency to measure the value of silver while the "value" of currency is itself not fixed. i.e. it makes no sense to be happy my 1oz of silver gives my $100 if that $100 can only buy me what was worth $30 before).

The ideal situation would be that the dollar/loonie stabilizes and the value of silver against the dollar/loonie rise steadily ahead of inflation ( and interest rates :) )

I am not educated here and was nice to read people's opinions.

I do not stack, but some of them (bullion coins) are part of my collection. So I keep adding them, coins with annual change in design.

And I suspect, that some day, they will cost only face value.