According to the USGS silver import-export data, the U.S. Silver Market is behaving much different from previous years. As I stated, U.S. silver bullion and dore bar imports hit a record 6,000 mt in 2011. However, this was due to elevated industrial silver demand and exports.

This year, the U.S. is on track to import 6,000 mt, but industrial silver supply and industrial exports are down considerably. Which means, the huge increase in U.S. silver imports must be due to physical silver investment demand. This doesn’t make sense as the price of silver is trading at a four-year low.