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(Kitco News) Despite gold prices stuck on the same trading range for the past month, US Mint reported impressive sales of gold and silver coins in January.
In January 2021, a total of 220,500 ounces of the American Eagle gold coins were sold. This is 267% more than the number sold in January 2020, which amounted to just 60,000 ounces. January sales were also the strongest month since April 2013.
In silver, a total of 4,775,000 ounces of American Eagle silver coins were sold in January of this year, compared to 3,846,000 ounces in January 2020. This is an increase of 24.15%, which is the best silver coins in January since 2017. used to be.
The US Mint has rationed the sale of its silver coins because of “continued exceptional market demand” and limited supply, Bloomberg told the US Mint on Tuesday.
The sales jump in January coincided with overwhelming demand from private investors looking to invest in physical metal. Many precious metals traders reported delays in ordering silver products over the weekend due to record demand.
The United States Mint said on Tuesday it was struggling to meet demand due to plant capacity problems and rising interest in precious metals in 2020 and through January 2021.
Total sales of US gold coins were up 258% last year, while sales of silver coins were up 28%, the US Mint said in a statement. Rising demand will also continue into 2021, the Mint added.
For 2021, the United States Mint said it has a limited period of time to produce gold and silver coins as redesigned coins are scheduled to be released in the summer. The Mint also said it would restrict the distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers due to increased demand and coronavirus-related logistical issues, Reuters reported, citing the Mint’s statement.
“Demand in the retail industry got off to a dizzying start to the year,” said Suki Cooper, Standard Chartered’s precious metals analyst. “Gold coin sales are generally stronger during Democratic governments than during Republican ones.”
The situation for physical silver will be more complicated this year due to the attempt at silver printing the market saw earlier this week.
Peter Hug, global trading director of Kitco Metals, said the attempt to squeeze silver has now “failed” as a result of it drying up precious metal stocks and rising premiums and leaving few physical products to sell.
In short, this intention to try the [silver] market was … absolutely stupid, backfire now, and now there is no retail product on the market, and the premiums are right on the level of March last year, ”he told Kitco News this week.
Premiums for physical silver products will not normalize until the supply chain stabilizes, Hug added.
“Right now the supply chain is probably four to eight weeks over, so how do you set your premiums without knowing what kind of volatility we’re looking at in the future, so what the dealers are doing is just cranking up the premiums. They cover their positions in thousand-ounce bars because they are readily available, and when the product comes in, they trade their thousand-ounce bars for product because they still get that product at distribution prices, and in the meantime, they have their positions covered, ”he said.
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