The market had already seen silver industrial demand start to recover during the second half of 2020 and “last year saw a continuation of much of this trend,” Philip Newman, managing director at Metals Focus, told MarketWatch. Industrial demand also managed to reach a new high despite the ongoing chip shortage and other supply-related disruptions, he said. By Myra P. Saefong for Market Watch

Yesterday, prices briefly spiked to $US1,980 – a one month high — as soaring inflation, COVID issues in China, and the Russia-Ukraine drove investors into safe havens. “Ultimately, we believe that gold prices will remain well supported in the coming months, assisted by prospects that inflationary pressure will last for longer as well as the persistence of geopolitical tensions,” Metals Focus says. By Reuben Adams for Stockhead

There are several reasons why the war in Ukraine has and will likely continue to support precious metals prices. First, the extent of the conflict, its proximity to Western Europe and the risk that it could spread to include other countries, whether intentionally or accidentally, have all pushed investors towards defensive assets. This has been particularly supportive of gold, that rallied to levels not far off its 2020 peak (in US dollar terms), and to a lesser extent silver and platinum. By Nikos Kavalis, Managing Director, Metals Focus

Adam Webb, Director of Mine Supply at Metals Focus noted “Average margins were squeezed by these rising costs, but remain high on a historical basis. Despite a 6% y-o-y reduction, at US731/oz they remained comfortably above the peak of US$552/oz reached in 2012, during the last bull run in gold.” He also added, “Should the gold price remain strong in 2022 then gold miners should continue to generate high margins, notwithstanding further pressure from continued cost inflation.” By Rajan Dhall for Kitco News

Experts at both Metals Focus and the World Gold Council believe that global reserves and the insulated nature of the gold market will prevent any significant supply challenges. “There is plenty of gold identified in current reserves and resources to sustain production at current levels for many years to come,” said Webb. “At the end of 2020, identified reserves were capable of supporting current production levels for 14 years, and identified resources were potentially able to support an additional 31 years of global production.” By Georgia Williams for Investing News

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