The international silver price surged 7.8 percent yesterday from the start of the month, growing at a faster rate than that of gold which soared to an all-time high that day, as the precious metal that is widely used in industry remains in short supply.
Silver prices reached USD24.86 an ounce on the Comex in the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, while that of gold soared 6 percent from March 1 to hit a new record of USD2,203 and is now trading around USD2,200 an ounce.
There will be a continued shortfall in the supply of silver this year for the fourth year running, due to strong demand for the metal in industry, but the supply-demand gap will narrow to 5,474 tons from 6,034 tons last year, the Silver Institute said.