China Silver Demand to Advance to Record on Wealth Protection [By Bloomberg News - Oct 25, 2012 10:50 AM GMT+0800]

Silver demand in China, the world’s second-largest user, is set to jump as much as 10 percent next year to a record as investors look to preserve wealth, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
Consumption may climb to 7,700 metric tons after gaining 6 percent to 8 percent in 2012, Shi Heqing, an analyst at Beijing Antaike, said in an interview on Oct. 22. About 33 percent of the country’s demand comes from jewelry and coins, with the rest from industrial use in photography, solar and electrical appliances, according to Antaike, which has studied metals for two decades.
Chinese investors are buying more silver as the second- largest economy slowed for a seventh quarter, the Shanghai Composite Index is heading for a third straight annual drop and property curbs are limiting prices. Silver climbed 14 percent this year and holdings by exchange traded funds gained 6.5 percent this year after touching 592 million ounces last week.
“Chinese investors want hard assets such as silver, especially when it’s cheaper than gold and requires less funding,” Shi said. “Many producers and investors have hoarded the precious metal in the form of ingots or unwrought silver.”
Silver rose 53 percent in the Federal Reserve’s first round of quantitative easing, or QE, from December 2008 through March 2010, twice as much as gold, and 24 percent during the second phase ending in June 2011, three times as much. The U.S. central banks announced a third round of QE on Sept. 13. Silver will probably beat gold in the next several quarters, Morgan Stanley (MS) predicts.

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