Clean tech is driving demand for silver: How long will it last?

Solar panels and EVs could keep the silver boom going for a while

- DAVID FICKLING

Silver has become the single biggest cost element of a solar panel.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

Silver’s booms and busts are typically turbocharged by excitable investors.

Sober industrialists bear their share of responsibility, though. It'sworth reflecting on that, given the 67% run-up in spot pricesso far this year. The precious metal's surge looks to be weakening as speculati enthusiasm subsides: It fell 7.1% last Tuesday. But anyone hoping fora quick return to levels below $30, which looked like a price ceiling until about 12 months ago, may bein fora long wait.

That’s because silver is an industrial metal in all but name. Coin and bullion investors consume barely a fifth ofannual production, with jewellery and cutlery adding another fifth. The remainder goes into factories, where it hasan array of uses.

Many of silver’s most notorious price spikes have been driven by this industrial demand. In 1979, three Texan oilmen managed to corner the market, driving up prices 62% between Christmas Eve and the first trading day of 1980 beforeamar-gin call sparked a wider financial panic. (That incident was the inspiration for the classic festive commodities comedy, Trading Places.)