Precious Metals
June 10, 2025
2 min
Precious Metals
The global silver market is on track for a 117.7 million ounce (Moz) deficit this year, according to data from the World Silver Survey 2025, visualized in our latest infographic. This marks a significant period of market tightness. While robust demand (detailed in our main analysis here) tells one side of the story, a closer look at the supply landscape reveals critical, contrasting trends shaping silver's availability in 2025.
Mine Production: A Long-Term Contraction
Global silver mines are projected to yield 835 Moz in 2025. This output signifies a 7.23% decrease compared to 2016 levels, based on World Silver Survey 2025 data. Such a long-term decline in primary silver supply points to persistent challenges within the mining sector.
Industry analyses, including reports like the World Silver Survey, indicate these can stem from factors such as the maturation of major orebodies, shifting capital investment cycles, the extended timelines required for new mine development, fluctuating operational costs, and evolving regulatory environments in key silver-producing nations. This decrease from mining operations is a crucial factor in this year's overall market deficit.
Recycling Ramps Up, Offering Partial Relief
In contrast to falling mine output, silver recycling is experiencing a significant uptick. Projections from the World Silver Survey 2025 data show an anticipated 195 Moz from secondary sources in 2025, a notable increase of 24.06%. This rise in recycled volumes is often linked to improved efficiencies in collecting and processing end-of-life silver-bearing products, particularly industrial and electronic scrap. Supportive silver prices can also incentivize the flow of materials back into the supply chain. While this growth in recycling provides an important contribution, its overall volume is still considerably smaller than primary mine production.
The Bottom Line: A Persistent Market Imbalance
Despite the commendable growth in recycling, the increase from these secondary sources is not projected to fully offset the decrease in mine production and meet total global demand. The interplay of these supply dynamics—reduced primary output and increased, yet insufficient, recycling—is a key reason for the forecast market deficit in 2025.
Sponsored by:
Eloro Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration company advancing a world-class silver and tin project in Bolivia’s historic Potosí Department. Its flagship asset, the Iska Iska Project, ranks among the top five undeveloped global resources in terms of scale for both tin and silver.
This significant grassroots discovery remains open in multiple directions, offering substantial potential for continued expansion and resource enhancement. Iska Iska benefits from strong infrastructure access and a deeply rooted presence in Bolivia, supported by an experienced management team and meaningful community engagement.
Eloro’s strategy is focused on resource growth, strategic partnerships, and establishing a leading position within the global mining sector.
Learn more at elororesources.com.
Sources: World Silver Survey 2025, published by The Silver Institute. Infographic by MiningVisuals.
Disclaimer: This analysis is based on data and projections sourced from the World Silver Survey 2025. While we believe the information to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. The views and forecasts expressed are subject to change without notice. This article is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Market conditions, including supply, demand, and prices, can fluctuate.
Explore More
View All
Silver's Use Cases: A Visual Guide to Where the Metal Actually Goes
Silver's Use Cases: A Visual Guide to Where the Metal Actually Goes
Somewhere inside a pressurized-water reactor, an alloy that is four-fifths silver is absorbing neutrons to keep the core in check, a job most silver investors have never heard of. It is a useful reminder that the metal people picture as coins and jewelry mostly works elsewhere, across industry.
Ranked: The Countries That Produced the Most Silver in 2025
Ranked: The Countries That Produced the Most Silver in 2025
Mexico remained the world's top silver-producing country in 2025, mining 172.9 million ounces (Moz), roughly a fifth of global supply, according to the World Silver Survey 2026, produced for the Silver Institute by Metals Focus. But Mexico's lead narrowed: its output fell 5% for a third straight year, while second-place Peru climbed 7%. Global mine production rose 3% to 846.6 Moz, even as the ranking's top tier told a story of one leader sliding and its closest rival closing in.
Electric Vehicles Are Set to Become the Auto Industry's Biggest Silver Consumer by 2027
Electric Vehicles Are Set to Become the Auto Industry's Biggest Silver Consumer by 2027
Most of silver's 2026 story has been told from the supply side: a sixth straight year of structural deficit and a record price near $121 in January. Less examined is where the next leg of industrial demand actually comes from. With solar, silver's largest industrial use, now facing thrifting and substitution, the Silver Institute points to a quieter end-use picking up the slack: the automotive sector. A December 2025 study from Oxford Economics and the Silver Institute quantifies that shift, and the engine behind it is the electric vehicle.
Silver Market Balance: A 2026 Update
Silver Market Balance: A 2026 Update
For the fifth year running, the world used more silver than it produced in 2025, and the World Silver Survey 2026 expects 2026 to extend that streak to six. The report, released in April by the Silver Institute and researched by the London consultancy Metals Focus, pegs the 2025 deficit at 40.3 million ounces and forecasts a wider gap of 46.3 million ounces this year. Each shortfall draws on above-ground stocks, leaving less metal readily available even as total inventories have held up.
