Market Update: Physical Gold & Silver Shortages

We are experiencing unprecedented demand for physical precious metals at BullionStar. Last week, we saw record demand both in terms of sales revenue and number of orders.

Despite our recent counter expansion in the Bullion Center, allowing us to serve up to ten customers concurrently, the record demand has resulted in substantial queuing times. Several days last week, we had more than 100 customers in queue, with waiting times reaching up to five hours despite all counters being open.

Our philosophy has always been to stock up aggressively across the board at the first sign of physical shortage. This approach has once again proven valuable, allowing us to maintain available inventory much longer than most of our competitors.

While we are currently facing challenges in replenishing and sourcing metals from several suppliers, we still have ample stock levels for most products. Several suppliers are reporting physical metal shortages and refining capacity limitations.

Examples include Heraeus, which is currently non-committal on new silver orders with delivery times exceeding three months. Nadir has added a spot price premium for silver of up to USD 3 per ounce, citing physical silver shortages. PAMP has raised wholesale silver premiums by 33 percent, and The Royal Mint has announced measures for limited allocation.

Furthermore, silver lease rates have reached as high as 100 percent, indicating physical silver shortages, particularly in the London spot market. BullionStar has for years highlighted that the paper silver market is hundreds of times larger than the amount of physical silver actually available. It seems that the London paper silver charade is finally coming to an end as more people realize that the emperor has no clothes and no physical silver.

Image source: Bloomberg, CME

This is a reminder that imaginary gold and silver have no inherent value. It has never been more important to stay away from paper gold and silver in all their forms. Many have been defrauded into buying paper gold and silver, but when gold and silver reprice exponentially, only physical metal will matter, not unbacked digital liabilities.

What We Are Doing

Free Insured Delivery Across Singapore – Trackable and Discreet

Avoid the Bullion Center queue and enjoy fast, secure, and discreet delivery. All deliveries are fully insured and trackable. Orders are shipped within two business days (Monday to Friday) after payment is received. We also offer worldwide shipping.

Alternatively, you can store your metals with BullionStar. Your holdings are fully insured, stored under your legal ownership and can be audited, sold, or physically withdrawn at any time.

Express Priority Queue for Pre-paid Orders

Order at BullionStar.com and pre-pay (we accept PayNow, Bank Transfer, Crypto Payment and Card Payment) to enjoy our priority queue when collecting your items at our Bullion Center.

Premium Increases

We have had to increase premiums and raise the no-spread volume threshold for No-Spread BullionStar Gold and BullionStar Silver Bars. While this is regrettable, it is unavoidable when we face wholesale premium increases or outright inability to restock gold and silver from our suppliers, while most competitors are completely sold out.

Minimum Order Amount of S$499

We have introduced a minimum order amount of S$499 or equivalent in other currencies. We have always been proud to welcome everyone to BullionStar, whether you are a seasoned investor or a small-time saver just starting your precious metals journey.

This measure pains us. It is heartwarming to see grandparents buying a silver coin for their grandchildren or someone with limited resources beginning to save in precious metals, and that is something we want to support. However, with our staff working several hours of overtime every day, handling thousands of support tickets and long in-store waiting times, we have little choice but to introduce this measure.

If demand continues to grow at the current pace, we may have to raise the minimum order further.

Hiring and Capacity Improvements

We have recently extended our opening hours and are now open Monday to Saturday from 11 am to 7 pm. We have also expanded our counters so that we can serve up to ten customers concurrently at our Bullion Center at 45 New Bridge Road in Singapore.

Even so, we are scaling up capacity in every area of the business as quickly as possible. We are hiring across almost all departments, including shop bullion executives, vault staff, customer support, accounting, legal, and compliance.