This week, international silver prices witnessed a historic moment: the spot price of London silver broke through $100 per ounce for the first time, marking a cumulative increase of nearly 45% since the beginning of this year. Unlike the already well-established investment vehicle of gold, there are very few silver-linked financial products available domestically in China. Consequently, the soaring price of silver has ignited sales in the physical silver market. Recently, products like silver bars and silver coins have been selling like hotcakes, with some individual shops even selling out multiple times. Silver prices continue to climb, driving robust sales of silver coins and bars. On Hankou Road, at a longstanding China Gold Coin retail store, customers have been waiting outside the door early in the morning before opening hours for the past couple of days. Inside the store, the display counters are almost bare because the pace of restocking simply cannot keep up with the speed of sales. Not only are Panda gold coins selling well, but the popularity of various silver coins has even surpassed that of gold. The person in charge explained that the shortage of silver coins is even more severe; whereas customers used to buy them one coin at a time, they are now purchasing entire sheets. At the beginning of last year, a 30-gram Panda silver coin cost around 300 yuan, but the price has now risen to over 820 yuan. Sometimes, if you hesitate just a little, the price changes. Staff mentioned that some customers bought two 1-kilogram Panda silver coins in one go. At the same time, the demand for Lunar New Year commemorative coins is also surging significantly. Customers are buying the 'Fu' character (Lunar New Year) Panda silver coins, available in both gold and silver varieties; it's expensive now, much more expensive this year. This wave of silver fever has also spread from large gold and jewelry stores to smaller goldsmith workshops. This shop located near the City God Temple can sell up to 45 kilograms of silver bars in a single day at most. The merchant explained that the hot retail market is gradually transmitting upwards to processing enterprises, with the premium for obtaining goods rising repeatedly. Currently, in these goldsmith shops, the selling price for pure silver is 25 yuan per gram, with the buyback price slightly lower; however, compared to the beginning of last year, this represents an increase of over threefold. Since mainstream commercial banks and precious metal retailers do not offer silver buyback services, these goldsmith shops are capitalizing on this wave of popularity. The soaring silver price has also prompted many citizens to dig out their long-stored silver jewelry. A citizen brought in a silver waist chain purchased over ten years ago in Yunnan, stating they came to check it out and get an estimate. The investment demand for silver bars is so intense that some factories are operating overtime to meet production. According to a CCTV News report, since April 2025, the continuous rise in silver prices has made many people see an opportunity, leading to strong market investment demand and a situation where related investment products are in short supply. At a silver product factory in Shenzhen, workers have been working overtime for several consecutive months to produce investment silver bars. The person in charge of this factory stated that their facility previously mainly produced silver jewelry. However, in recent months, the demand for investment silver bars has risen rapidly, while jewelry demand has noticeably declined. Their factory's production has adjusted accordingly, turning what was once a sideline business of silver bar production into their main operation. Accompanying the rise in silver prices, the presence of silver bars in Shenzhen's Shuibei market has also become increasingly prominent, with many gold counters starting to switch to selling silver bars. Mr. Zhou, a jewelry purchaser from Yancheng, Jiangsu province, said, "I have been in the jewelry industry for ten years. In the past decade, the total amount of silver I sold combined is less than what I sell in a single day now." The general manager of a silver product processing factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong, mentioned: "From October to the end of December last year, most of the production was focused on 1-kilogram silver bars, along with 500-gram and plain-faced bars. After entering January 2026, the largest volume shifted to 100-gram and 200-gram bars. Furthermore, all the craftsmanship has improved, and the product variety has become much richer." The impact of this silver rush extends from the consumer level to adjustments in factory production, and has even led to some contrasting cases of value reversal. In 2023, Ms. Wang from Jianyang City, Sichuan Province, was selecting a diamond ring at a local jewelry store when the store happened to be running a promotion offering a pure silver thermos cup with purchases above a certain amount. After spending 6,200 yuan on a diamond ring, she received the pure silver thermos cup for free. Recent news of the silver price surge reminded Ms. Wang of this闲置 thermos cup. She dug it out and specifically went to a local hardware store to have it weighed. The result showed the total weight of the cup body was 380 grams. After deducting the weight of the non-silver lid and filter net, it weighed 256 grams. Combined with the "999 Pure Silver" mark on the cup, she estimated the weight of the pure silver inner liner to be approximately 70-80 grams. Based on the pure silver回收价 of 22.5 yuan per gram on January 23, 2026, the回收价值 of the pure silver in this thermos cup was already close to 2,000 yuan. Netizens commented: Genuine gold and silver are truly valuable! This current silver price rally is accompanied by certain risks. In 2025, the international silver price saw an annual increase of nearly 148%, and since the beginning of this year, it has risen another 45%. Analyzing the reasons, industry insiders point to two main factors: on one hand, it stems from safe-haven demand driven by geopolitical tensions; on the other hand, it originates from the US categorizing silver as a critical mineral, leading to planned tariff increases.
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