Chinese silver production, consumption, exports will increase this year

Silver Institute President Robert Quartermain says China “will continue to be a growth market” with silver production forecast to increase 17%, along with a 28.5% increase in jewelry consumption.

RENO, NV - 

A recent international silver conference in Chengdu, China's fifth largest city, revealed that Chinese silver production, consumption and exports are all expected to increase substantially this year.

In a presentation to the Sixth Annual China International Conference, Yao Wong, Vice Secretary-General Director of China General Chamber of Commerce, suggested that the healthy growth in the nation's economy should provide silver markets with an excellent opportunity for development.

Yao said that 2007 GDP growth is 11.5% for the first half of this year, while the current per capita GDP for China is US$2,000. Urban income is three times that of rural income.

During 2006, China reported a year-on-year total production of 8,252 tons of silver, a 14.7% increase over the same period of 2005. Silver consumption of jewelry and silverware accounted for 20% of total silver consumption in 2006, which was reported at 3,000 tons. Use of silver in jewelry and silverware increased 13.9% y-o-y in 2006. The country exported 4,712 tons of silver last year.

Silver Standard President and CEO Robert Quartermain, the President of the Washington, D.C.-based Silver Institute, which co-sponsored the Chinese conference, estimated that China's silver production will be 9,700 tons this year, for a projected 17% increase. Quartermain projected this year's Chinese silver consumption at 3,350 tons, including a 28.5% y-o-y increase in jewelry consumption.

Conference presenters noted that more than 3,000 manufacturers and fabricators of silver jewelry sell through 2,000 distribution enterprises, which make up the nation's silver industry.

Meanwhile, Quartermain said that "rapid ongoing development of microelectronics communications and information technology continues." An average growth rate of 15% between 2006 and 2010 is forecast by Chinese silver experts with silver consumption in electronics up 35%.

China has a long history of wearing silver jewelry. With the improving living standards of the Chinese people, Chinese silver experts anticipate that there will be an increased tendency to for personal consumption of silver jewelry.

The anticipated continuing rapid growth rate of silver consumption in China is expected to make the nation the second-largest silver consumer after the United States.

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