TD Securities’ Daniel Ghali notes persistent Chinese demand has kept the Shanghai arbitrage window open, supporting international Silver buying. Despite strong physical flows and CME warehouse draws, visible stocks remain ample relative to dealer shorts. Ghali concludes Silver’s narrative is shifting toward rising inventory coverage, driven by shrinking deficits and a growing global free float.

Chinese demand and ample visible stocks

"Persistent Chinese demand for silver in Shanghai has kept the Shanghai arb window open since the days preceding the war in Iran, fueling an international bid for the white metal associated with the profitable import arbitrage."

"Over the last sessions, the price dislocations in SHFE have now attracted inventories back into its vaults, alleviating concerns around domestic scarcity as off-exchange inventories make their way into SHFE warehouses."

"The drain in CME warehouses is remarkable, but with 345mn oz still in inventories, dealers could theoretically still cover their entire 125mn oz short futures positions with physical metal located in the right jurisdiction, and the CME would still have a large 220mn oz in warehouses."

"This reinforces our view that silver's story is about rising inventory coverage, as a function of shrinking deficits and a rising global free-float."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)