Source: Radio New Zealand
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- Silver prices increased 150% in 2025
- Gold rose by “just” 65% last year
- Silver “dual use,” complicates supply
Often dismissed as “the poor man’s gold”, silver outshone its more famous roommate in 2025, staging its biggest rally in modern trading history and smashing through 45‑year highs.
Those previous highs – around US$50 an ounce – were set in the early 1980s when the now‑infamous billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt attempted to corner the global silver market.
This time, however, the rally has been driven not by manipulation, but by a powerful mix of industrial demand, tightening supply, and resurgent investor interest.
Gold prices may have surged 65 percent to around US$4300 in 2025, but silver more than doubled that performance, finishing the year 148 percent higher at US$71.60 an ounce.
The dual use precious metal
Many of the forces that propelled gold higher last year also supported silver.
For centuries gold has served as a store of wealth – rare, dense, and importantly, gold doesn’t rust.
In today’s world, it is also used as a hedge against geopolitical risk, inflation, and the steady debasement of fiat currencies.
Local bullion dealer NZGold estimates that central banks collectively purchased 600 metric tonnes of physical gold in 2025 – worth around US$86 billion (NZ$150 billion) – as they continued diversifying away from the US dollar.
Silver, though more abundant, shares several of gold’s investor‑friendly traits, including durability and its function as a monetary metal, and it doesn’t rust.
Unlike gold, silver also has widespread industrial applications.
Most solar panels require silver, and it is a critical component in the electronics, semiconductor, and electric‑vehicle battery supply chains.
Demand from renewable energy, electrification, and AI‑driven data‑centre expansion is forecast to underpin future consumption.
Silver supply melts away
Years of underinvestment in silver mining have contributed to a cumulative supply deficit of 796 million ounces between 2021 and 2025 – worth roughly US$62b (NZ$108b) at 2025 prices, according to the World Silver Survey.
Compounding the issue, 70-75 percent of global silver output is produced as a by‑product of mining copper, lead, zinc, and gold, meaning higher silver prices do not easily translate into higher silver production.
Concerns about future supply shortages led the United States to officially designate silver as a critical mineral.
Combined with returning investor appetite on the back of rising gold prices, the reasons behind silver’s explosive rally become clear.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
