Chennai: Silver import volumes jumped 600 per cent till the end of September this year against the period in 2023. Going forward, the industry expects silver import growth to moderate.Silver imports till the end of September stood at 6390 tonnes, against 914 tonnes during the nine months of last year – surging 599 per cent. In the nine-month period, it has already crossed the usual annual imports, which is around 6000 tonnes. In the month of September, imports were up by 80 per cent to 252 tonnes against 140 tonnes in the year-ago month. This was the second lowest growth in the year after April. In the month of April, imports were up by just 1 per cent.For the remaining months, silver imports recorded three-digit and even five-digit growth. The highest growth was recorded in February when silver imports went up to 2294 tonnes against 20 tonnes in the same month last year – up by 11370 per cent, according to Metals Focus.The second highest growth was recorded in March at 955 per cent from 101 tonnes to 1066 tonnes. The month of August too saw 621 per cent growth to 1421 tonnes against 197 tonnes.“We have seen the silver imports surging past 1000 tonnes in February, March and August. In the month of February, there were rumours in the market that the India-UAE CEPA agreement will be called off and hence there was a rush to make the purchases at lower duties,” said Chirag Sheth, principal consultant, India Metals Focus.“In August, the market was reacting to the duty cut which made silver imports cheaper,” he added.He expects that going ahead, the country may not see large imports of 1000 tonnes and more.“Unless there is a major fall in prices, high imports are unlikely. The country already has 600 to 700 tonnes of silver lying in the vaults. Though the solar and electric vehicle industry demand has been rising steadily, the investment demand has not surged significantly to further increase imports,” he said.For the entire year of 2024, Sheth expects imports to be in the range of 7000-7500 tonnes.
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