A gold shop Photo: VCG
Silver has emerged as one of the best-performing precious metals in 2025, with prices soaring more than 30 percent since the end of 2024. The rally has outpaced gold’s rise this year and sparked a wave of investor interest across global markets.
The price of London spot silver hit $38.18 per ounce at the close on Friday, up by 32.17 percent compared with the price on December 31, 2024. The price of London spot gold also saw a sharp but lower increase of 27.68 percent during the period.
Despite gold trading at elevated levels, ongoing geopolitical tensions and localized conflicts continue to weigh on global stability, Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday, noting that as a result, silver and other precious metals have increasingly emerged as alternative safe-haven assets.
As silver price continues to rise, several Chinese banks have stepped up their precious metals businesses, launching products such as silver bars, ingots, and jewelry. On the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China app’s physical precious metals section, the top four newly listed products are all silver items, including a silver ingot ornament and three silver bracelets.
China Merchants Bank recently launched a precious metals investment products pre-sale campaign, including three silver accessories weighing 18 to 25 grams and priced at 840.24 yuan ($117.06) to 1,054.50 yuan. The series is scheduled to deliver on August 8, the bank’s app shows.
In addition, Zhang pointed out that silver plays a crucial role in the new-energy sector, serving as a key material in solar cells, electric vehicles (EVs), and electronic products. As these emerging industries expand rapidly, industrial demand for silver continues to rise, becoming another major driver of its price surge, he said.
According to a report released by the Silver Institute on April 16, 2025, global industrial silver demand hit a record 680.5 million ounces in 2024, rising 4 percent year-on-year, driven by green technologies like solar, EVs, and power grids, as well as artificial intelligence-fueled electronics demand.
However, silver demand has outpaced supply for four straight years, with a 2024 deficit of 148.9 million ounces and a cumulative shortfall of 678 million ounces since 2021—equal to 10 months of global mines’ output.