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(Kitco News) While the price of gold has remained in the same trading range as last month, US Mint reported impressive sales of gold and silver coins in January.
A total of 220,500 ounces of American Eagle coins were sold in January 2021. It is 267% higher than the amount sold in January 2020, which was equivalent to only 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 this year compared to 3,846,000 ounces sold in January 2020. This is an increase of 24.15%, which marked the best silver coins of January since 2017.
The U.S. Mint has rationed sales of its silver coins due to “continued exceptional market demand” and limited supply, according to Bloomberg, which cited the U.S. Mint on Tuesday. .
The January sales jump coincided with an overwhelming demand from retail investors, who were looking to invest in physical metal. Many precious metal traders reported delays in ordering silver products over the past weekend amid record demand.
The U.S. Mint said Tuesday it had trouble meeting demand due to plant capacity issues and rising interest in precious metals in 2020 and through January 2021.
Total U.S. gold coin sales rose 258 percent last year, while silver coin sales rose 28 percent, the U.S. Mint said in a statement. . Growing demand is also expanding until 2021, the Mint added.
By 2021, the U.S. Mint said it has a limited window to produce gold and silver coins, as redesigned coins are scheduled to be issued in the summer. The Mint also said it would limit the distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers due to increased demand and logistical problems related to the coronavirus, Reuters was quoted as saying. of the Currency.
“Retail demand has had an amazing start to the year,” said Suki Cooper, Standard Chartered precious metals analyst. “Gold coin sales tend to be stronger during Democratic administrations than Republican ones.”
The physical silver situation will be more complicated this year due to the silver squeeze attempt that saw the market earlier this week.
Peter Hug, global sales director for Kitco Metals, said that now the attempt to squeeze silver has “come back” as bullion inventories have run out as a result, and with premiums and few products. physicists left to sell.
“Basically, this intention is to try to squeeze the [silver] The market was … absolutely silly, now it has fallen behind and now there is no retail product on the market, and premiums are fair at last year’s March levels, ”he told Kitco News this week.
Premiums on physical silver products will not normalize until the supply chain stabilizes, Hug added.
“Right now, the supply chain is probably four to eight weeks away from home, so how premiums are defined without knowing what kind of volatility we’re looking at in the future, so what dealers are doing is increasing They cover their positions in thousand-ounce bars because they are readily available, and then, when the product arrives, they will change their thousand-ounce bars per product, because they will still get that product at distribution prices, and in the meantime they have covered their positions, ”he said.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor can the author guarantee this accuracy. This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a request for any exchange of goods, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article does not accept guilt for loss and / or damage resulting from the use of this publication.