Perth Mint Silver Sales Pass 2015’s Record
November 2016 Sales of Silver at the Perth Mint Just Shy of One Million Ounces.
The Perth Mint sold 984,622 ounces of silver in November 2016. This was down 9.2% from October when the Perth Mint sold 1,084,213 ounces of silver. November 2016 silver sales at the Perth Mint were down 14% year over year from November 2015 sales of 1,145,239 ounces of silver.
Total 2016 Perth Mint sales of 11,806,763 ounces of silver is a new annual record.
Perth Mint November 2015 sales were driven by sales of the Australian Silver Kangaroo , a coin first introduced in September 2015 during a shortage of American Silver Eagle and Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins. In its first month of release of the Australian Silver Kangaroo, the Perth Mint sold 3,500,000 ounces of silver.
In contrast to slower silver sales year over year, gold sales at the Perth Mint in November were up 73% year over year, highlighting a shift in investor preference for gold in recent months.
November marked only the fourth month over the past twelve months that the Perth Mint did not sell over a million ounces of silver. From January to April the Perth Mint sold over a million ounces of silver. In May the Perth Mint sold just shy of one million ounces of silver. In June, the Perth Mint sold 1,220,817 ounces of silver. July and August’s silver sales at the Perth Mint fell significantly. (see chart below).
In August, the Perth Mint commented that the lower silver sales in July were due to well stocked North American distributors. In September, the Perth minted noted the lower August sales “reflected the trend for lower volumes reported by precious metal businesses worldwide.” September and October marked a return to one million ounce per month silver sales at the Perth Mint. The Perth Mint noted that silver sales in September received a boost from the introduction of the 2017 Australian Silver Rooster.
U.S. Mint silver sales in July and August were also down significantly from prior months, but like at the Perth Mint, rebounded sharply in September and October. Dealers restocking their silver inventories as well as election uncertainty helped to boost silver sales globally in September and October.
The U.S. Mint sold 3,061,000 one ounce American Silver Eagles (ASEs) in November, down 20% from 3,825,000 sold in October.
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. In 2016, through November, the Perth Mint has sold 11,806,763 ounces of silver or more than an average of one million ounces a month.
Perth Mint Silver Sales November 2015 – November 2016
The dramatic increase in silver sales at the Perth Mint since the fall of 2015 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.
Perth Mint Silver Sales
Australia’s Perth 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 sold an average of well over a million ounces of silver for the past twelve months from October 2015 through October 2016.
2016 Perth Mint Silver Sales Projection
If silver sales at the Perth Mint in 2016 continue at a pace of an average of 1,073,342 ounces a month (January- November combined sales of 11,806,763 ounces divided by eleven) the Perth Mint will sell about 13 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. The U.S. mint is projected to sell about 38 million ounces of silver in 2016.
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.