Gold Digger: Silver heading for another deficit in 2026, Silver Institute confirms

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Silver is on track for yet another deficit in 2026, with the Silver Institute forecasting a 35Moz shorfall for the ... Read More The post Gold Digger: Silver heading for another…

You’d be forgiven for thinking last year’s silver and gold price surges brought hundreds of millions of ounces onto the market given how prices have cratered in recent weeks.

Gold made a dive for US$3900/oz and silver is flirting with US$50/oz, as markets tipped a December rate hike is coming from the US Fed on stronger economic data out of the States and a resurgence in crude oil.

There’s even an 11% bet on a 50bps hike – something unforeseen by markets just one week ago.

While gold has been cut down to size (and for obvious reasons, gold miners) silver has been absolutely shafted.

A manic buying spree sent the precious metal to over US$120/oz in late January. That was obviously frothy, but in spite of the price crunch since then, it could be argued the fundamentals have improved further since.

Enter the Silver Institute, which had its annual dinner in New York this week.

It says while primary silver mines will lift output 6.5Moz to 233Moz this year, mainly down to higher grades at the Peñasquito mine in Mexico and a couple of other expansions in the world’s top producing nations, overall mined supply is going to drop 0.5% this year to 834Moz.

That’s thanks to lower output at mines in Peru, China and Argentina, where silver is largely mined as a by-product of metals like gold and copper.

Average margins for primary silver mines hit US$62.19/oz in the first half, up 187% even as costs rose sharply by 47% to an average US$16.27/oz.

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