U.K.-based precious metals consultancy, Metals Focus, puts Russian output marginally higher than that of Australia, or at least it did in 2020; we are waiting for the latest report from the firm. According to the firm, Australian gold production in 2021 totaled 315 tonnes or 10.1 million ounces. This was lower than the peak production levels recorded in 2019 and 2020. The consultancy put local gold output for the first half of the 2021 year slightly ahead of China, but this was not sustained later in the year, so according to Surbiton’s figures, Australia remains in second place globally. By Rajan Dhall for Kitco News

Russia is the equal 5th largest silver producer in the world — alongside Australia and Poland — producing 1,300t of the precious and industrial metal in 2021. Metals Focus now says Russian production will remain flat in 2022 – a downward revision from initial forecasts – after the suspension of Toronto-based Kinross Gold’s Russian operations. This mainly concerns their ‘Kupol’ mine, which produced 3.3Moz (~100t) silver in 2021. By Reuben Adams for Stockhead

“M&A in the gold sector peaked in 2010 at US$32 billion, so last year’s activity was still around US$10 billion lower than record annual levels,” Adam Webb of Metals Focus told the Investing News Network (INN). “However, it was still a relatively strong year for M&A in the gold-mining sector, and we expect this to continue into 2022.” By Georgia Williams for Investing News

“Compared with pre-pandemic norms, we had expected palladium automotive demand to be just 2% short of the 2019 total and rhodium actually exceeding that year’s demand by 2%, despite a forecast of 8M fewer ICE cars being produced,” Metals Focus said in a note last week. By Josh Chiat for Stockhead

Russia is the world’s third largest gold producer, mining around 330 tonnes each year worth around $20 billion at current prices, according to consultants Metals Focus. It produces around 1,350 tonnes of silver a year worth about $1 billion. By Peter Hobson for Investing.com

Metals Focus, a leading independent precious metals consultancy, reported today that the recovery in western jewelry demand during 2021 gathered pace, with early indicators for 2022 show strength persisting. According to the report, the US jewelry market has long been running well, with imports not just up y/y but well ahead of more representative 2019 levels since June. By Vladimir Basov for Kitco News

“There is no doubt that unless the situation is defused quickly, there will be frictions in all Russian trade and this will affect palladium,” said Nikos Kavalis, managing director at Metals Focus Ltd. “Over time ways to overcome them would emerge, whether this through ever more complicated routes, shipments to China or other consuming countries.” By Yuliya Fedorinova, Eddie Spence and Ranjeetha Pakiam for Bloomberg

The precious metals consultancy, Metals Focus, based in London, is in the process of researching for publication the Silver Institute’s annual report on the international silver market. World Silver Survey 2022 is scheduled for release April 20. Philip Newman, managing partner for Metals Focus, says silver investment demand has been strongest in bar form, with 40% of the total silver demand in bars. By Paul Gikes for Coin World

According to the International Olympic Committee, gold medals are required to be at least 92.5% silver and are plated with about 6 grams of pure gold. A spokesperson from the Beijing 2022 committee confirmed that this year’s gold medal follows those regulations. That works out to be $758 worth of gold and silver in those medals, according to Philip Newman, a founding partner and managing director of Metals Focus, a London-based research firm. By Alexandra E. Petri for The Economic Times

“Chinese New Year sales in 2021 had been exceptionally strong,” bullion-market consultants Metals Focus explain, with demand to buy gold enjoying “a strong boost” from pent-up demand and disposable savings after the Covid Crash of 2020. Now matching that boom, “robust” household gold demand before and during February 2022’s spring festival holidays came after late-2021 saw jewelry demand rise by nearly 1/4 from a year before in terms of gold weight, aided by a dip in Yuan prices.

The outlook for silver demand is exceptionally promising for 2022 with global silver demand forecast to rise to a record high of 1.112 billion ounces (Boz) in 2022. The increase will be driven by record silver industrial fabrication, which is forecast to improve by 5 percent, as silver’s use expands in both traditional and critical green technologies. Physical silver investment demand (consisting of silver bar and bullion coin purchases) is projected to jump 13 percent in 2022, achieving a 7-year high. Silver’s use in jewelry and silverware is also expected to strengthen in 2022 by 11 percent and 21 percent, respectively. By The Silver Institute for Bakersfield

Metal Focus said that there is growing evidence that Chinese consumers are once again turning to gold jewelry as a quasi-investment and demand is being driven but growing geopolitical uncertainty, slowing of the domestic economy and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Following the healthy Chinese New Year sales results, jewelry retailers are optimistic about the year ahead. Their attention is now shifting to the upcoming Valentine’s Day and Lantern (Yuan Xiao) Festival jewelry buying occasions,” analysts at Metals Focus wrote. By Neils Christensen for Kitco news

“Now the expectation is of five rate hikes. In a sense, market expectations of monetary policy have turned increasingly hawkish, which is negative for gold because we’ve seen a lot of strength in the two-year yields and we’ve also seen that boosting the dollar index,” said Harshal Barot, a senior research consultant for South Asia at Metals Focus. By Asha Sistla for Reuters

In a weekly report Wednesday, Metals Focus said it expects total platinum group metals demand to grow by 11% to top 12.8 million ounces this year — 1.2 million ounces more than 2021. It expects an improvement in automotive manufacturing as well as tighter emissions legislation in major markets, to drive that growth in demand. By Myra P. Saefong and Mark DeCambre for Market Watch

According to Metals Focus, a growing global automotive sector has driven combined autocatalyst demand for platinum, palladium and rhodium (PGM), which rose by 5% in 2021 and expected to hit record levels in 2022. The consultancy said that the total PGM demand is expected to grow 11% breaching 12.8Moz in 2022. “This is 1.2Moz more than 2021 and 200koz higher than pre-pandemic levels, despite expectations that vehicle numbers will still be lower than in 2019,” the authors of the report noted. By Vladimir Basov for Kitco News

With supply growing, prices were impacted by softening demand throughout H2 2021, particularly in the automotive industry. “The biggest factor that impacted palladium demand this year is the protracted and deepening chip shortage,” said Wilma Swarts, director of platinum-group metals at Metals Focus, in December. “Vehicle production forecasts for 2021 were cut by around 10 million vehicles from the start of the year until now.” By Georgia Williams for Investing News