Silver has the basic properties of money. For a long time in history, it was used as money like gold. In the history of international currency, not only the gold standard appeared, but also the silver standard appeared. With the reform of monetary system and the emergence of credit currency, silver coins gradually withdrew from circulation. At present, the most important silver coins are investment silver coins and commemorative silver coins. In addition, the consumption of other silver investment products such as investment silver bars is also increasing.
(2) Silver consumption
Most of the physical consumption of silver in the world comes from industrial manufacturing, photography, jewelry, silverware and coin seals (the statistics here do not include the demand for silver derived from financial investment).
Due to the rapid development of digital technology, the demand for silver in the photography industry in the traditional silver consumption field is declining, but it still accounts for a certain proportion: the consumption of silver in the industrial field and jewelry industry is generally increasing driven by economic growth, and the industrial demand is greatly affected by economic fluctuations.
As the traditional silver halide technology is gradually replaced by digital technology, the silver consumption in the global photography industry continues to decline, and it is expected that the silver consumption in the photography industry will continue to decline.
In recent years, the global demand for silver jewelry has generally declined. Among them, the demand for silver in some developed countries in Europe and America has dropped significantly, while the demand for silver in emerging economies such as China and India has increased. Because 20 10 is a very auspicious year in Indian traditional culture, the increase of wedding or celebration ceremonies has obviously promoted the consumption of silver.
(3) Silver trade
Global silver trade mainly occurs in the United States, Britain, Japanese, Indian, Italian, China and so on. At present, the two centers of global silver trade and transaction are London, England and new york, USA. London Gold and Silver Exchange (LBMA), the world's largest spot silver trading market, is located in London, while the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world's most important gold and silver futures exchange, is located in new york.
Europe is one of the places where silver is scarce in the world. The main reason for this structural shortage is that the output of mineral silver and recycled silver in Europe is relatively small, and the existence of markets such as LBMA promotes the circulation of silver. In other European countries, such as Italy, the silver jewelry industry is very developed and consumes a lot of silver every year.
At present, China is the largest silver producer in the world. China has been one of the most important silver exporters in the world for many years because the domestic silver market opened late and consumption just started.