Exclusive: China's silver output stood at 1182.4 mt in March

SHANGHAI, Apr 9 (SMM) — According to SMM survey, domestic silver output stood at 1182.4 mt (including 1014.4 mt of mineral silver) in March, down 0.91% from the previous month.

Due to the fact that the price gap between domestic and foreign prices still existed in March, with quotas allowed, manufacturers' export willingness remained stable. Some manufacturers fully produced silver ingots for export, and smelters with export quotas had higher operating rates than other smelters. The export ratio arbitrage operation even attracted the participation of speculators. The competition for silver-containing materials, including anode slime, also lifted up the pricing coefficient of silver-containing materials, and some manufacturers’ purchasers even said that the profit margins of some foreign mines reduced or even hung upside down after the increase in the pricing coefficients of some foreign mines.

Therefore, some small and medium-sized smelters decreased the purchase of silver-containing materials, and silver-containing materials cannot be purchased or the stock of silver-containing materials was not enough for the lower limit of the furnace, which still led to production cuts and shutdowns of some manufacturers, such as Yunxi, Gejiu Lianxing, etc. Some production companies saw a significant decrease in the number of silver on behalf of processing in March. SMM expected China's silver output to fluctuate slightly and basically remain unchanged in April.