US, China Silver Prices Push Monthly Precious Metals Index To 12-Month

Gold wasn’t the only precious metal that plummeted over the past month.

The monthly Global Precious Metals MMI® registered a value of 102 in May, a decrease of 6.4 percent from 109 in April. It was led primarily by U.S. and China silver prices.


According to Thomson Reuters GFMS, silver demand will be rising due to increased manufacturing activity and investment. The metals research firm “expects the silver price to benefit from accelerating global growth this year ... the impact on the price will depend on the extent of the recovery in the eurozone.”

However, keep an eye on Asia.

Physical demand for gold, however, is still strong there. Physical gold deliveries appear to be across all CME Group-approved storage facilities. The destination is not domestic consumption, but re-melting and casting to specifications acceptable in Asia.

The trend since last year seems to be for both private and futures market gold stocks to be heading for export to new vaults and precious metal investment products in Asia.

Primary Price Drivers of the Index
Chinese silver prices fell 14.0 percent. U.S. silver is also down, with a 14.0 percent drop over the past month. The price of Indian silver closed the month, dropping 11.5 percent. After falling 11.0 percent, Japanese silver finished the month lower.

U.S. palladium bar prices fell 9.6 percent after rising the previous month. Following a 9.2 percent decline in price, Chinese palladium bar finished the month lower. After rising the previous month, US gold bullion prices dropped 7.5 percent. Chinese platinum bar was down 6.9 percent for the month. Chinese gold bullion prices fell 6.2 percent after rising the previous month.

After rising the previous month, Japanese gold bullion prices dropped 4.3 percent. Indian gold bullion prices fell 4.3 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, U.S. platinum bar prices dropped 4.0 percent. Japanese palladium bar prices fell 3.7 percent after rising the previous month. Last month, Japanese platinum bar prices dropped by 1.0 percent.

The Global Precious Metals MMI® collects and weights 14 global precious metal price points to provide a unique view into precious metal price trends over a 30-day period.