Silver News

Silver Institute Releases Global Jewelry Report

(March 29, 2007 - Washington, D.C.) The Silver Institute today released a comprehensive report on trends in the global silver jewelry market. The report was prepared, on behalf of the Silver Institute, by GFMS, Ltd., the London-based precious metals consultancy. GFMS Ltd also produces the annual World Silver Survey for the Silver Institute, a role they have undertaken since 1994, and it is the report of record for the silver industry.

Two of the key areas of silver fabrication demand are jewelry and silverware. Since its inception, the World Silver Survey has featured jewelry and silverware as a combined total in the main country-by-country tables. In the report issued today, entitled, Silver Jewelry Report, global statistical series have been produced that separate jewelry and silverware for the first time as well as a detailed review of the country-by-country data.

The report features a 10-year global series for jewelry and silverware, as well as a detailed qualitative analysis of the silver jewelry market. In addition, the report also examines the following key areas:

• A review of trends in silver jewelry fabrication, both at the regional level as well as focusing on countries with manufacturing volumes exceeding one million ounces, including China, India, Italy and the United States. The analysis brings out the main trends, specific to each market that have impacted silver fabrication over the past decade;
• Separate data on the leading silver jewelry consuming nations is provided in this report, including country-by-country data for the 10 largest consuming countries for the 2000 to 2005 period;
• Jewelry consumption, and in particular, competition for silver jewelry. The review is not limited to competition from white or yellow gold but extends to other materials, both precious and non-precious;
• The global trade in silver jewelry, focusing on the top five importing and exporting nations; and
• The impact of trends in the silver price, economic developments and the effect of changing fashion on consumption.

Some findings contained in the report include:

• Global silver jewelry output grew from 146.4 million ounces (Moz) in 1996 to 171.8 Moz in 2005;
• The United States, India, Germany, Italy and Mexico were the top five jewelry consuming countries in 2005;
• Over the last decade, Chinese silver fabrication has seen tremendous growth, from 2.2 Moz in 1996 to 17.4 Moz in 2005;
• Global silver jewelry trade has leapt in recent years, from US$1.4 billion in 2000 to US$2.6 billion in 2005;
• Globally, twice as much silver as gold ends up in jewelry; and
• GFMS estimates that there is scope for moderate growth in global offtake over the next several years at the current silver price levels.

"It is interesting to note that silver jewelry demand in 2005 was larger for the first time than photographic demand 171.8 Moz versus 164.8 Moz", said Michael DiRienzo, Executive Director of the Silver Institute. "Additionally, silver jewelry demand is arguably of better quality than photographic demand because the rate of recycling is far higher for the latter than the former," he added. About 60% of all silver used in photography worldwide comes back to the market while relatively little silver jewelry does.

The Silver Jewelry Report makes an important contribution to the transparency and understanding of this fascinating area of the silver market. A copy of this report, may be downloaded at no cost from the Silver Institute's home page: www.silverinstitute.org

A Chinese and Spanish translation of the Report's Executive Summary is also available on the Institute's homepage.

Founded in 1971, the Silver Institute is an international industry association. Its members include the leading silver producers, refiners, manufacturers and silver bullion dealers.

For Further Information Contact:

Mike DiRienzo
The Silver Institute
Tel: +1 (202) 835-0185
Philip Klapwijk
GFMS
Tel: +44 7803 232531