SMM

Silver nitrate manufacturers with sales qualifications produced 764 mt of silver nitrate in November, up 15.2% MoM and 31.6% YoY. The output of the surveyed enterprises accounted for about 80% of the market. Therefore, China’s silver nitrate output is estimated to be about 968 mt. Among them, silver nitrate output in in Central China decreased by 7.7% MoM, while that in Northwest China, East China and south China increased by 18.8% MoM, 58.8% MoM and 9.5% MoM respectively. The reasons for the output hike were: 1. Silver price in November hit 5,697 yuan/kg (SMM1# silver price), and was not very high in early and mid-to-late November. Therefore, downstream buyers showed high acceptance of silver prices, and had robust demand. In the last week of November, silver prices rose to more than 6,000 yuan/kg, made downstream buyers prudent in placing orders, and they only picked up goods. 2. Due to changes in the price difference between domestic and imported silver, the price difference between silver TD and silver spot prices remained at 400-500 yuan/kg. Imported silver powder has a relative price advantage. Some companies increased demand and refilled imported silver power boasting a price advantage, but then turned to domestic silver powder given that available silver powder for sales decreased. 3. The technical routes of downstream enterprises changed. Demand from PERC cell routed gradually decreased, while that from Topcon cell and other routes slowly increased. Other routes consumed more silver than PERC route. 4. Downstream buyers started refilling a small amount of silver nitrate towards the end of this year, and will cut silver nitrate demand around the Spring Festival. SMM predicted that silver prices will be high in December, but there will still be some need to stock up. Therefore, SMM predicted that silver nitrate production will remain stable or slightly decrease in December.