Silver consumption down in the U.S.

For the first quarter of 1986 domestic industrial silver consumption in the U.S. was 30.8 million oz — three million oz lower than a year ago or down 1%, the U.S. Bureau of Mines reports. Usage, however, was up 1.2 million oz from metals the fourth quarter of 1985.

The amount of silver available to domestic industry from new mine production, scrap and imports totalled 34.5 million oz. Supplies, then, exceeded industrial consumption by 4.9 million oz in the first quarter. This accumulation in private inventories for the first quarter compares with 73 million oz added to inventories in all of 1985. Since 1981 more than 255 million oz of silver has been added to domestic investment holdings. This is an average accumulation of five million oz per month during the period.

U.S. domestic mine production is reported as only slightly lower than the comparable period in 1985.