SHNAGHAI, May 9(SMM) -  According to SMM survey, domestic 1# silver output stood at 1,249.68 mt(including 1039.68 mt of mineral silver) in April 2022, down 0.45% from the previous month.

On the macro front, the Fed has just announced an interest rate hike by 50 basis points as well as its tapering plan to start on June 1 at a pace of $47.5 billion per month and the upper limit of tapering will be raised to $95 billion per month within three months. Powell said that a one-time interest rate hike by 50 basis points is optional for the next few meetings (not included 75 basis points). The main focus was on reducing inflation to 2% because the inflation may further exceed expectations. And the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted: first, to call for an international criminal tribunal to try Russia's political and military leaders; second, to call on the UN General Assembly icon to raise the issue of limiting the use of the veto by the permanent members of the UNSC icon; and third, on the need to use frozen assets of Russian citizens to compensate the victims in Ukraine! Russian citizens with assets of $10 million or more are counted. There are comments that the vote is a hypothetical for a war with Russia. Uncertainty about the geopolitical issues coupled with changes in the economic environment, silver prices are expected to move rangebound in May, ranging between 4,600 yuan/kg and 5,200 yuan/kg.

In terms of production of manufacturers, there was a reduction in the output of a small number of manufacturers while others remained unchanged. Enterprises with sharp reduction in output in April included Henan Zhongyuan Gold Smelter, Zhejiang Fuye Group, Shandong Zhaojin and Baiyin Nonferrous. There were not many enterprises increasing their output significantly, such as Zhejiang Hongda, which had a significant increase in output due to the gradual recovery from production cuts. And output increased sharply in enterprises like Guangdong Gold Industry, Yunnan Zhenxing Industry, Zhejiang Yadong Industrial and Jinlong Copper, thus the silver output did not change much in April with only slight decreases. It is expected that the domestic output of silver may be flat in May, with the possibility of further drop, but not by much.

Notes: SMM has published national silver output from February 2021. Silver is mostly associated with copper-lead-zinc mines. Benefiting from high SMM base metal coverage, 45 SMM silver producers are surveyed in 17 provinces across China, with a total sample capacity of 24,000 mt and a total capacity coverage of over 95%.