Silver Bullion Pte, a Singapore
supplier of coins and bars to retail investors, opens a 600
metric ton vault tomorrow as investor demand increases.
The storage could hold silver worth $390 million at prices
on March 21. The company doubled sales to 1.04 million ounces in
2013 from 517,000 ounces a year earlier, said Gregor Gregersen,
who founded the company in 2009. Almost all the sales were
silver, he said in an interview in Singapore on March 18.
Investors are adding to holdings as silver becomes cheaper
relative to gold. Silver plunged 36 percent in 2013, the most in
three decades, exceeding a 28 percent decline in gold as
equities climbed, the U.S. economy improved and inflation
remained muted. Assets in exchange-traded products backed by
silver rose 1.9 percent in 2014, climbing for a third year, as
gold holdings were little changed. American citizens are his
largest group of customers, said Gregersen.
“While prices dropped last year, we saw physical demand
went through the roof,” said Gregersen. “Our American
customers seem to be concerned about rising government debt in
their country and see silver as a form of insurance.”
Marketable U.S. government debt outstanding has soared to a
record $12 trillion from $4.5 trillion in 2007, according to
U.S. Treasury data compiled by Bloomberg.
An employee takes out a container filled with silver bars inside The Safe House vault… Read More
An employee takes out a container filled with silver bars inside The Safe House vault in Singapore. Photographer Nicky Loh/Bloomberg Close
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An employee takes out a container filled with silver bars inside The Safe House vault in Singapore. Photographer Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Silver increased 3.5 percent this year to reach $20.1608 an
ounce by 3:35 p.m. Singapore time today as gold climbed 9.8
percent to $1,323.83 ounce, taking the ratio to 65.7, about the
highest since August.
Malca-Amit
Malca-Amit Global Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company handling
logistics in diamonds and precious metals, started a 200-ton
silver vault in Singapore in July. The storage is full, said
Joshua Rotbart, precious-metals general manager at the firm.
American Precious Metals Exchange Inc., one of the dealers
authorized globally to buy directly from the U.S. Mint, saw
record sales of silver in 2013 and is on the same pace this
year, said Michael Haynes, chief executive officer of the
Oklahoma City-based company.
“People feel good that they can buy 20-30 ounces of silver
with much less money than they would have spent on one ounce of
gold,” said Haynes. “Physical silver is in very high demand.”
Sales of silver American Eagles rose to a record 42.675 million
ounces in 2013, U.S. Mint data show.
Prices are rising even as the market is in surplus. Supply
including from mines, official sales and scrap will exceed
demand by 6,482 tons in 2014, at least the sixth consecutive
year of glut, Barclays Plc estimates. Prices will average $19
this year, 20 percent less than a year earlier, it said.
Silver bars are stacked inside The Safe House storage facility in Singapore…. Read More
Silver bars are stacked inside The Safe House storage facility in Singapore. Photographer Nicky Loh/Bloomberg Close
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Silver bars are stacked inside The Safe House storage facility in Singapore. Photographer Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Gregersen’s new facility, known as The Safe House west of
Changi Airport, now keeps 37 tons of silver mostly for clients
in a vault behind a 2.5 ton stainless steel door with separate
storage for 25 tons of gold, he said. The company may expand
services to financial institutions, he said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore at
cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James Poole at
jpoole4@bloomberg.net
Ovais Subhani
Silver Vault for 600 Tons Starting in Singapore on Demand
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