Perth Mint Australian silver kangaroo image

Perth Mint May Silver Sales Jump 189%

Silver News
May 2016 Sales of Silver at the Perth Mint Rise 189% Year Over Year.

The Perth Mint sold 974,865 ounces of silver in May 2016. This was up 189% from May 2015 when the Perth Mint sold 337,511 ounces of silver. May 2016 silver sales at the Perth Mint were down 16% from April 2016 sales of 1,161,766 ounces. May 2016, silver sales at the Perth Mint, were the first month since September 2015 that did not reach one million ounces. From September 2015 through April 2016, Perth Mint silver sales compiled an unprecedented streak of eighth straight months of silver sales over one million ounces. May 2016 sales fell just 25,035 ounces short of a million ounces.

Perth Mint Silver Sales May 2015 – May 2016

perth mint silver sales 2015 -2016 may bgasc
Perth Mint silver sales remain at elevated levels.

The dramatic increase in silver sales at the Perth Mint is attributable to the introduction of the one ounce silver Australian Kangaroo coin in September 2015. This coin was released at a time when the major sovereign mints like Canadian and United States Mints were having difficulty meeting demand due to shortages in silver blanks needed to produce Canadian Silver Maple Leaf and American Silver Eagle coins.

The Australian Mint, unlike the United States Mint, produces its own silver blanks, so the Perth Mint was not reliant upon the ability of third parties to provide them with blanks and was able to ramp up production of its Australian Silver Kangaroo coins relatively quickly.

The Australian Silver Kangaroo was produced with the intention that it would not have a limited mintage like other Perth Mint silver coins like the silver Koala and silver Kookaburra.

Although the Perth Mint does not provide a break-down of monthly sales of each silver coin it mints, the bulk of silver sales at the Perth Mint now come from the silver Kangaroo.

In the first month of mintage of the Australian Silver Kangaroo coin in September of 2015, Perth Mint silver sales topped 3.5 million, up from about 750,000 in September 2014, an increase of over 366%. The Perth Mint has now sold an average of well over a million ounces of silver for the past nine months since September 2015 through May 2016. The Perth Mint sold 13,951,936 ounces of silver from September 2015 – May 2016, up 170% from the comparable period of September 2014 – May 2015 when 5,168,675 ounces of silver were sold.

The Price of Silver in May 2016

The price of silver rose over 20% through April 2016, but pulled back about 10% in May. Silver is trading well off its high of $50 an ounce in 2011. Silver has traded recently between $16 and $17 an ounce. The low price of silver helped drive record U.S. Mint demand in 2015 and record silver demand at the Perth Mint the past nine months.

2016 Perth Mint Silver Sales Projection

If silver sales at the Perth Mint in 2016 continue at a pace of an average of 1,283,069 ounces a month (January- May combined sales of 6,415,339 ounces divided by five) the Perth Mint will sell about 15.3 million ounces of silver in 2016. The United States Mint sold over 48 million ounces of silver in 2015 including sales of 47 million American Silver Eagle one ounce coins and sales of 212,000 five ounce America The Beautiful Coins.

About the Perth Mint: The Perth Mint is Australia’s only precious metals refinery and the only major government mint to also operate a refinery. The Perth Mint also sells gold coins.

Perth Mint silver sales data: The Perth Mint Blog

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This article by BGASC is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice or as a recommendation regarding any particular course of action.