This Bodes Bad Things For Film & Papers

[chuckroast]

Just one data point, but ...

India Funds Halt Silver ETF Investment Amid Unprecedented Global Shortage | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[koraks]

Just one data point

And one with a very indirect link to the photographic industry and the long term. I read nothing particularly new or more worrying than what we've been hearing for months years on that page.

 

[chuckroast]

And one with a very indirect link to the photographic industry and the long term. I read nothing particularly new or more worrying than what we've been hearing for months years on that page.

This doesn't seem faster/worse that previous such cycles? I don't track commodities, so I honestly don't know.

For clarity, I should have said it bodes badly for prices of film and paper.

 

[koraks]

This doesn't seem faster/worse that previous such cycles?

I think we need to be clear on what we're looking at in that blog. Here's the 5-year development:

As said, this has been going on for quite some time.

The charts shown in the blog are a bit more ambiguous in their interpretation. Note also that the discussion is very specifically about one aspect of trade (and a very small one at that; note the total assets in these funds, which are...well, tiny), and that the article notes that...

Goldman believes this squeeze will be temporary expecting that within 1-2 weeks we’ll see significant physical inflows from China and the US into LBMA and the curve ultimately eases

I'd be cautious in drawing any conclusions from this for the photographic industry. Are precious metal prices on the rise? Yes, absolutely. That's nothing new, though.

PS: for some more historical perspective:

It's not unprecedented that silver is skyrocketing. It does this every once in a while, generally for fairly obvious reasons - i.e. increased risk perception in the stock trade and/or general lack of confidence in the economy, resulting in a flight into noble metals.

 

[Arthurwg]

The silver price should encourage production.

 

[MattKing]

Unfortunately, the current market discourages use of silver for commercial and industrial purposes, and encourages use of silver as an investment vehicle, better hoarded than put to productive use.
I expect the various other global economic disruptions - including in particular disruptions to the petrochemical supply markets in Europe - probably have as much or more effect on photographic film and paper costs.