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Cardboard Box Demand Plunging
19 June 2023Why Silver Is A Good Investment
23 July 2023Silver In Sun Panels
If you are a physical silver bar or coin investor like me, we should keep a close eye on photovoltaic (solar panels) demand. The reason is that silver is required to make each and everyone of these panels work. I am not even talking about the new 5 G networks that are being rolled out as we speak. Each component of those networks like switches, circuit boards cell towers, cell phones etc, use silver.
In a previous article “How Silver Is Used” I noted that the silver used for sun panels in 2022 was 140.3 million ounces, up from 54.1 million ounces in 2015. All over the world today, the race for sun energy is accelerating which means there will be an increased demand for physical silver and we know the silver supply side is getting more constrained every month.
China’s Sun Panel Manufacturing Capacity
China has just published figures for photovoltaic manufacturing for the first quarter of 2023. Their capacity has increased by a whopping 92%. This will have a huge impact on the world silver reserves and clearly indicates physical silver shortages in the pipeline. China manufactures more than 90% of the world’s sun panels. Because of their dubious labor practices, they are producing sun panels much cheaper than anyone else in the world which is causing prices to fall.
The modular and solar panel production capacity in China may increase from 361 GW last year to around 600 GW at the end of first quarter 2023 according to the Asia Europe Clean Energy Advisory (AECEA)
All the above points to just one thing! The demand for silver is going to increase drastically in the next year. Make sure you top up your physical silver holdings right now.