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India imports more silver in 4 months than in all of 2023

India's silver imports in the first 4 months of the year have actually already exceeded the overall for all of 2023, on rising demand from the solar panel industry and as financiers bet on an outperformance versus gold, federal government and industry authorities informed .

Increased imports by the world's greatest silver consumer might support global costs, which are trading near their greatest level in more than a decade.

India imported a record 4,172 metric lots of silver during January to April, up from 455 heaps in the same period a year back, stated a government official, who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

India imported a total of 3,625 tons of silver last year

Industrial and financial investment need are driving up silver imports, stated a Mumbai-based dealership with a personal bullion importing bank.

Silver rates haven't done in addition to gold in the past years, however investors believe it will do much better than gold this year.

Local silver futures struck a record high of 96,493 rupees ($ 1,158.01) per kg on Wednesday and are up almost 28% so far in 2024, comfortably exceeding a 14% boost in gold rates.

Nearly half of this year's imports have actually come from the United Arab Emirates to benefit from lower import duty, said an importer based at Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

India generally enforces a 15% import responsibility on silver. However, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, signed in between India and the UAE in 2022, enables personal traders to import silver through the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX) paying 9% responsibility, and an additional 3% in worth added tax.

In the past couple of months extreme imports were made and silver is trading at a discount rate in India, stated the Ahmedabad based importer.

In the coming months, silver imports will slow down. First, the market will try to consume the currently imported metal, he stated.

(source: Reuters)