Silver rises to 30-year high as mints start to ration coins

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f316ac4-3acc-11e0-9c1a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1EOEHsrc4

Silver jumped to a 30-year high amid record levels of investor buying that has drained mints of silver coins.

The price of the precious metal hit $31.37 a troy ounce on Thursday, up 16 per cent since mid-January and the highest since March 1980. The world’s leading mints have reported record sales of silver coins in January and some, including the Royal Canadian Mint and Austrian Mint, have had to ration sales.

“We have sold everything we can produce in silver and have demand for at least twice that volume,” said David Madge, head of bullion sales at the Royal Canadian Mint, which produces the silver Maple Leaf coin. Silver coin sales at the US Mint and the Austrian Mint also hit record levels in January.

The surge of buying has both boosted silver prices and helped push the market into “backwardation” – an unusual condition in which forward prices are lower than prices for immediate delivery.