Silver Prices Surged to New Highs Again, Downstream Buyers Hesitated Amid High Prices, Spot Market Premiums Declined [SMM Daily Review]

Precious metal prices surged to record highs today, with the spot-futures price spread of Shanghai silver 2510 contract against TD maintaining within 30 yuan/kg. According to SMM, the premium of spot silver ingot warrants with cash payment in Shanghai against TD dropped to 1-3 yuan/kg, or a discount of 20-25 yuan/kg against the Shanghai silver 2510 contract. In Shenzhen, suppliers offered a discount of 26 yuan/kg against the Shanghai silver 2510 contract, but trading remained sluggish. Large smelters also lowered their premiums against TD to 2-4 yuan/kg. In the spot market, smelters rushed to sell at high prices, while downstream buyers remained cautious and adopted a wait-and-see approach, leading to widespread price negotiations and an oversupply situation. The narrowing of the spread between futures and spot prices was limited, and traders' enthusiasm for procurement and inventory building waned. Additionally, some speculative sellers offloaded cargoes, resulting in a few TD discount transactions in Shanghai. However, the mainstream premiums and discounts for national standard silver ingot warrants against TD still hovered near parity.