United States Mint Announces 'Global Silver Shortage,' Halts Purchase Orders for Silver Coins
Citing what it called a “global silver shortage,” the U.S. Mint is not going to take orders next month for certain silver coins.
“The global silver shortage has driven demand for many of our bullion and numismatic products to record heights. This level of demand is felt most acutely by the Mint during the initial product release of numismatic items,” the Mint said on its Facebook page.
Demand has led to complications ordering the coins online, the Mint said.
“Most recently in the pre-order window for 2021 Morgan Dollar with Carson City privy mark (21XC) and New Orleans privy mark (21XD), the extraordinary volume of web traffic caused significant numbers of Mint customers to experience website anomalies that resulted in their inability to complete transactions,” the release said.
“In the interest of properly rectifying the situation, the Mint is postponing the pre-order windows for the remaining 2021 Morgan and Peace silver dollars that were originally scheduled for June 1 (Morgan Dollars struck at Denver (21XG) and San Francisco (21XF)) and June 7 (Morgan Dollar struck at Philadelphia (21XE) and the Peace Dollar (21XH)),” the release said.
The Mint said that canceling those June dates will give it “the time necessary to obtain web traffic management tools to enhance the user experience.”
The Mint cautioned that buyers face stiff competition.
“As the demand for silver remains greater than the supply, the reality is such that not everyone will be able to purchase a coin,” the release said.
The Mint said new dates will be announced “as soon as possible.”
The Mint’s action caused a buzz on Twitter.
“The global silver shortage has driven demand for many of our bullion and numismatic products to record heights.”
The United States Mint is delaying 2021 Morgan and Peace Dollars.#SilverSqueeze @WallStreetSilv https://t.co/ZrDBRLwM7m
— William McCoy (@KOmowse) May 29, 2021
There’s a global silver shortage.?Silver is one of the key components of most electronic devices and solar panels. ☀️We live a world where we are aggressively pushing renewables and tech while our fiat currencies struggle to be backed by real value… 1+1=2 ?
FEW……..
— Ephraim the Builder ? (@KaranjaSean) May 29, 2021
In a new posting, the United States Mint acknowledges the global silver shortage – “The global silver shortage has driven demand for many of our bullion and numismatic products to record heights”. “demand for silver remains greater than the supply” https://t.co/AiDtDnL2vH pic.twitter.com/X2FfKuyPny
— BullionStar (@BullionStar) May 28, 2021
The website Coin Week noted that on the May 24 sale, the Mint’s website “slowed to a crawl.”
It further noted that within 25 minutes of the pre-order window opening the 175,000 coins available were sold out.
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Some say the demand for silver will keep rising.
“The outlook for demand growth for silver over the next few years looks very positive, especially across a wide range of industrial applications, including solar, 5G and automotive,” said Philip Klapwijk, managing director of Precious Metals Insights Ltd, according to Bloomberg.
“That, coupled with ongoing high levels of investment is likely to create the need for more dedicated storage space for silver in bullion and also intermediate forms,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
