NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Mint said on Tuesday it could not meet growing demand for its gold and silver coins by 2020 and through January, due in part to demand from pandemic and plant capacity.
U.S. gold coin sales rose 258 percent in 2020, while demand for silver coins rose 28 percent, the U.S. Mint said Tuesday. It continued to buy intensively in 2021, he said, compressing supplies, which had already been adjusted as the coronavirus affected production.
A buying action driven by social media raised silver futures to a maximum of eight years on Monday, but currency market dealers were already facing a lack of supply and delivery delays before that rally. .
The Currency, a division of the U.S. Treasury, had a limited distribution of its silver coins to suppliers, as it is currently changing the designs of its American Bullle Gold and Silver Bullion Coins.
“There would be a delay in the silver bullion supply chain that made Silver Eagles scarcer in any direction,” Everett Millman told Gainesville Coins in Florida. I was expecting delays until mid-March for the most popular products.
“The silver coins and silver bars that are available have acquired significantly higher prizes,” he added.
In January, 220,500 American Eagle gold coins were sold, 290% more than the 56,500 a year earlier, the Mint said.
For this year, the U.S. Mint has a limited window to produce its current gold and silver coins, and the redesigned coins are expected to be released in the summer. In a statement, it limits the distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers due to high demand and a limited number of metal suppliers.
Reports by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; edited by Richard Pullin