Perth Mint Sells 693,000 Ounces of Silver in July
July 2016 Sales of Silver at the Perth Mint down 7% Year Over Year.
The Perth Mint sold 693,447 ounces of silver in July 2016. This was up down 7% from July 2015 when the Perth Mint sold 746,700 ounces of silver. July 2016 silver sales at the Perth Mint were down 25% from June 2016 sales of 1,220,817 ounces. July’s lower sales reflect a break from massive sales in the first six months of 2016 that were up 172% year over year.
The Perth Mint commented that the lower silver sales in July were due to well stocked North American distributors.
July 2016, silver sales at the Perth Mint, represented the lowest silver sales since June 2015. Silver sales from September 2015 to June 2016 were over one million ounces each month except May during which the Perth mint sold over 974,000 ounces of silver. From September 2015 through April 2016, Perth Mint silver sales compiled an unprecedented streak of eight straight months of silver sales over one million ounces.
Perth Mint Silver Sales July 2015 – July 2016
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 ten months since September 2015 through July 2016. The Perth Mint sold 15,840,200 ounces of silver from September 2015 – July 2016, up 151% from the comparable period of September 2014 – July 2015 when 6,299,961 ounces of silver were sold.
The Price of Silver in June 2016
The price of silver rose over 40% through July 2016. Silver is trading well off its high of $50 an ounce in 2011. Silver has traded recently over $20 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 ten months.
2016 Perth Mint Silver Sales Projection
If silver sales at the Perth Mint in 2016 continue at a pace of an average of 1,189,943 ounces a month (January- July combined sales of 8,329,603 ounces divided by seven) the Perth Mint will sell about 14.2 million ounces of silver in 2016. The Perth Mint sold 11,775,927 ounces of silver in 2015. 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
This article by BGASC is not, and should not be regarded as, investment advice or as a recommendation regarding any particular course of action.