Sharp breaks in gold and silver prices to their lowest in more than four years have unleashed a surge in demand for investment coins and small bars by retail investors around the world, with buyers in Germany queueing out the door and some U.S. investors returning to the market for the first time in years.

Retailers and distributors in Asia and the United States are struggling to get supplies of items such as Canadian Maple Leaf silver coins made by the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM), Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday.

The RCM has started rationing its Silver Maple Leaf coin sales to its global distributors in response to high demand in September when gold prices fell to a near 2014 low, it said.

US Mint temporarily sold out of Silver Eagles amid huge demand