SunSirs: Crazy Silver Surges Over 60% in Under a Month—Industry Reactions Mixed

Silver is undoubtedly the most "glamorous" metal variety since 2026, outshining not only base metals such as copper and aluminum but also precious metals like gold.

Reporters from Securities Times recently conducted investigations and interviews and found that as silver prices have surged sharply, "some are happy while others are worried." Due to its wide range of industrial applications, the significant rise in silver prices has had a profound impact on the relevant industrial chain.

Crazy Silver: Soaring by Over 60% in Less Than a Month

The rising trend of silver prices is accelerating.

Take the current price of London Silver in the international market as an example. Market data shows that the current price of London Silver has recently broken through $117 per ounce, which means that since 2026, in less than a month, the cumulative maximum increase in the current price of London Silver has exceeded 60%. Such a rapid and huge increase is staggering, and this is achieved on the basis of the already significant rise in silver prices. In 2025, the cumulative annual increase in the current price of London Silver exceeded 140%, setting the largest annual increase since the beginning of this century.

The imbalance between supply and demand is considered one of the main reasons for the continuous and significant rise in silver prices. The recent research view of Hualian Futures points out that the growth of the silver supply side is significantly weak, while the demand side has obvious increments. The development of photovoltaics, new energy vehicles, and AI data centers provides rigid support for silver demand, and the silver market has been in a state of supply shortage for the fifth consecutive year.

Bai Wenxi, Vice Chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Union, believes that the core logic behind the rise in silver prices, and the most crucial driving force, is the structural imbalance between supply and demand. Unlike gold, the current rise in silver is supported by a solid industrial fundamentals rather than mere financial speculation. At the same time, silver is shifting from an "industrial metal with scattered uses" to a functional material locked in by key industries. For example, the demand for silver in the photovoltaic industry reached 198 million ounces in 2024, accounting for 17% of total demand, which is more than 2.6 times the level in 2019.

Bai Wenxi pointed out that in January 2026, the gold-silver ratio once fell to around 50, hitting a new low in nearly 13 years, indicating that silver has entered a stage of relative strength compared to gold. Historically, a gold-silver ratio below 50 usually means that silver has entered a phase of relative strength. In November 2025, the United States included silver in its list of critical minerals, which intensified concerns about the supply chain and the hoarding behavior of traders, thereby strengthening the strategic resource attribute of silver. As the price of gold soared to $5,000 per ounce, safe-haven funds shifted to the silver market with high volatility and high leverage. The current round of silver price rise is the result of the resonance of supply-demand mismatch, industrial rigid demand and financial attributes, which is essentially different from the purely speculative market in history. However, he also warned that the rigid demand from industries such as photovoltaics, new energy vehicles and AI has provided a solid bottom for silver prices, but the excessive short-term increase has indeed accumulated the risk of a correction.

Upstream mining enterprises are "overjoyed" while downstream photovoltaic industry feels the chill

As silver prices continue to rise sharply, silver mining companies in the upstream of the industrial chain have naturally become beneficiaries of this trend.

For example, driven by factors such as the strengthening of silver prices, Shengda Resources achieved operating income of 1.652 billion CNY in the first three quarters of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 18.29%, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 323 million CNY, a year-on-year increase of 61.97%.

Optimism about upstream silver-related enterprises is also directly reflected in their stock prices. In less than a month since 2026, the stock prices of Hunan Silver and Baiyin Nonferrous have both risen by more than 100% cumulatively, while the stock price of Shengda Resources has increased by more than 90% cumulatively.

Against the backdrop of a sharp rise in silver prices, some enterprises plan to further advance the construction of silver-related mineral projects or increase their equity in silver mines. Shengda Resources recently disclosed that its capital expenditure plans for the next few years include the development and construction of the Bayanbaoleg silver-polymetallic mine project of Deyun Mining, the Miaohuang copper-lead-zinc-silver mine project of Guangxi Jinshi Mining, as well as the acquisition of high-quality primary mineral resource projects such as silver, gold, and copper.

The situation on the downstream industrial demand side is somewhat different. Among the new industrial demand for silver in recent years, silver used in photovoltaics is regarded as the core demand growth driver. Zhu Shanying, a senior researcher at the Macro Research Group of CITIC Futures Research Institute, pointed out in a recent interview with a reporter from Securities Times that the industrial applications of silver are concentrated in fields such as electronics and electrical appliances, photovoltaics, brazing materials, photography, silver jewelry and silverware. After 2021, with the explosive growth of the photovoltaic industry, silver used in photovoltaics has become the main demand growth driver in recent years.

In contrast to the "joy on the faces" of mining enterprises in the upstream of the silver industry chain, the downstream industries that use silver as a raw material have directly felt waves of coldness. Among these, the situation in the photovoltaic industry is perhaps the most representative. Many listed photovoltaic companies have predicted that they will suffer large losses in 2025, and many have mentioned the impact of rising silver prices.

For example, Tongwei Co., Ltd. recently disclosed that the company expects to achieve a net profit attributable to owners of the parent company of approximately 9 billion CNY to 10 billion CNY in losses for the 2025 fiscal year. Regarding the reasons for the expected loss, Tongwei Co., Ltd. stated that during the reporting period, the overall scale of newly installed photovoltaic capacity maintained a year-on-year growth, but it slowed down significantly in the second half of the year. The problem of periodic oversupply in the industry has not yet been alleviated, the operating rates of all links in the industrial chain have declined, the prices of some core raw materials such as silver have continued to rise, and product prices have continued to fall year-on-year, resulting in significant operating pressure in the industry.

Trina Solar's 2025 annual performance forecast released recently shows that the company expects a net profit attributable to owners of the parent company to be a loss of 6.5 billion CNY to 7.5 billion CNY in 2025, and a net profit attributable to owners of the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses to be a loss of 6.9 billion CNY to 7.9 billion CNY in 2025. Trina Solar stated that although the prices of photovoltaic products gradually increased in the second half of the year due to the advancement of the industry's anti-involution efforts, the profitability of the company's module business for the whole year declined compared with the same period last year due to the rapid rise in the costs of key raw materials such as silicon materials and silver paste, resulting in a loss in the company's operating performance in 2025.

An insider in the photovoltaic industry stated in an interview with a Securities Times reporter that the price of silver has risen significantly over the past year, which has directly led to a substantial increase in the cost of silver paste, a core component of the non-silicon costs of battery cells. Currently, the proportion of silver paste in the non-silicon costs of photovoltaic cells has exceeded 50%, and it has even become the largest single cost for some components. The rising cost of raw materials and the low price of end products have formed a price scissors gap, which has severely squeezed profit margins. Although the prices of some components have rebounded under the promotion of "anti-involution" policies and self-discipline in the industry, overall, the transmission of cost pressures to the downstream still faces constraints from market demand and the industry structure. This is one of the reasons why the photovoltaic industry generally reported losses in its 2025 performance forecasts.

The above-mentioned person in the photovoltaic industry stated that the current surge in silver prices is a severe challenge facing the industry. Their company is fully promoting the large-scale mass production of "base metalization" technology, striving to fundamentally reduce its dependence on silver.

Silver paste enterprises calmly respond with the "back-to-back" model

Silver paste is a key material formed by processing silver in the mid-stream, providing core functional materials for downstream industrial fields such as photovoltaic and electronics.

To understand the impact of rising silver prices on some silver paste enterprises, on January 26, a reporter from Securities Times called the Secretary's Office of Suzhou Good-Ark as an investor. Relevant staff said that the rise in silver prices did not have a particularly significant impact on the company because it adopts a "back-to-back" model. When the company buys silver from suppliers, the silver price is reflected in the selling price to customers. The staff explained that under the "back-to-back" model, the company's product pricing for customers is in the form of "silver price + processing fee". When the silver price rises, the company's product price naturally rises; when the silver price falls, the product price also naturally falls. The company does not profit from the price difference caused by the rise or fall of silver prices. According to the data, Jingyin New Materials under Suzhou Good-Ark is one of the leading silver paste enterprises in China, with its main products including high-temperature silver paste for high-efficiency PERC and TOPCon batteries, low-temperature silver paste for heterojunction (HJT) batteries, and silver-clad copper paste, etc., covering a full range of products.

Dike Co., Ltd. also stated in a recent institutional research survey that the company mainly adopts a production mode based on sales orders and a procurement mode based on production needs. Usually, on the day it receives a sales order, it issues a silver powder purchase order based on the sales order, production plan and inventory status. The sales price of conductive silver paste products and the purchase price of main silver powder are both priced based on the silver spot price of the same period or a similar period. This pricing model allows the impact of silver spot prices on silver powder purchase prices to be passed on to downstream customers through sales pricing, so the company does not directly bear the risk of significant fluctuations in silver powder prices. To further reduce the risk of fluctuations in silver spot prices, the company hedges the silver difference between sales orders and purchase orders through silver futures. Dike Co., Ltd. stated that silver futures hedging is closely related to the company's daily operational needs and has a clear business basis. According to information on Dike Co., Ltd.'s official website, the company is China's first listed company specializing in conductive silver paste for photovoltaics and semiconductors, with products including metallized conductive silver paste and interconnection conductive silver paste.

Feature: "Silver hunting" is popular, and gold-clad silver jewelry is hot again?

How popular is silver?

Walking on the streets of Shuibei, Shenzhen, you will occasionally encounter people pulling small carts loaded with investment silver bars.

About half a year ago, the factory we work with still had 2,000 silver bars unsold, but suddenly they sold out. Now the factory is working overtime to catch up with production," the person in charge of a precious metal recycling store in Shuibei told reporters. "We also follow the market trends.

At the same time, the reporter also saw some Hong Kong tourists coming to Shuibei to "hunt for silver". Some Hong Kong tourists said that many gold shops in Hong Kong have begun to limit the purchase of silver bars, making them hard to buy. Among these Hong Kong tourists, there are quite a few middle-aged and elderly people. During the conversation with them, the reporter learned that the reason they chose to invest in silver bars is that they feel more secure with "real gold and silver", and they will store them in their houses in Shenzhen.

Some merchants recall that in 2022, at jewelry counters, silver ornaments were used as gifts. For example, buying a diamond ring would get a silver cup and a silver pot as gifts, and purchasing a gold chain would come with silver chopsticks. At that time, the price of pure silver raw materials was only about 5 CNY per gram. "Who would have thought that these silver cups and silver pots, which were once used as 'gifts', would now become best-selling products?

However, compared with investing in silver bars, the popularity of silver jewelry is still different. "At the end of last November, the price per gram of silver jewelry was only about 16 CNY, but now it has risen to 30 CNY," a silver jewelry merchant told reporters. "The silver jewelry consumer market shows an obvious trend of younger consumers. Recently, there have been particularly many young consumers, and the affordable price is the most critical factor. However, the overall sales volume of silver jewelry has not changed much, and many customers still come to consult about silver bars.

When it comes to jewelry, the once "extremely popular" gold-clad silver jewelry has once again entered consumers' sight. This kind of jewelry that contains both gold and silver is completely in line with the current hot trends.

Reporters' visits found that the prices quoted by many gold-clad silver jewelry stores are significantly lower than those of traditional gold and silver jewelry stores. Merchants selling gold-clad silver jewelry stated that on the 27th, the price of gold was 1,200 CNY per gram, and the price of silver was 23 CNY per gram. "Gold-clad silver and gold plating are actually different processes. Gold-clad silver refers to a layer of gold foil wrapped around pure silver," while gold plating "is the deposition of a gold solution on the base material through electroplating or chemical plating. The production process is relatively simple, and the gold layer is usually thin. In comparison, the cost of gold-clad silver is higher than that of gold plating.

However, staff members from recycling agencies have stated that there is no issue with using gold-clad silver products as jewelry. However, one must exercise sufficient caution if expecting to recycle or invest in them. Even if merchants promise recycling and replacement, consumers should not only understand the rules for recycling and replacement but also be aware of the loss during gold-silver separation, handling fees, as well as the merchant's integrity and business sustainability, to avoid falling into consumption traps.

Reporters found that although the price per gram of silver jewelry has risen to 30 CNY, the recycling price is only 24 CNY. Some merchants said, "Recently, the price of silver has risen sharply, and the recycling price has also increased a bit, but the increase is not as much as the selling price." In response, industry insiders said that ordinary consumers need to be cautious if they buy physical silver bars purely for investing in silver.

Nowadays, as the boundary between investment and consumption is gradually blurring, precious metals represented by gold and silver have gained more definitions. They are both financial assets and ornaments favored by young people. Take silver as an example. It has both precious metal properties and industrial properties, and its price fluctuations are closely related to the global macroeconomic environment, inflation expectations, changes in industrial demand, etc. Bo Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Union, also believes that for ordinary investors, silver is a high-risk and high-yield variety, suitable as a "satellite position" rather than a core position in asset allocation. It should be remembered that in the silver market, living long is more important than making money quickly.

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