SURPRISING UPDATE: Canadian Silver Maple Sales Stronger Than Last Year

Jon Gold, Market Commentary, Precious Metals, Silver

In a surprising update, Canadian Silver Maple Leaf sales for the first half of 2014 surpassed sales during the same period last year. According to the Royal Canadian Mint’s Q2 2014 Report, just released, sales of Silver Maples hit a new record of 15.4 million ounces in the first half of the year.
If we look at the chart below, we can see that the Royal Canadian Mint sold an additional 1.4 million Silver Maples in the 1H 2014, at 15.4 million compared to 14 million during 1H 2013.

Thus, 1H 2014 sales of Silver Maples are 10% higher than 1H 2013. If we compare Silver Maple sale to Gold Maple sales, its a totally different picture indeed. Gold Maple sales are down considerably in the first half of 2014. The Royal Canadian Mint sold 681,000 oz of Gold Maples in the 1H 2013, compared to only 337,000 oz in 1H 2014.
This is a stunning 344,000 oz decline in Gold Maple sales or a 51% drop year-over-year. If we combine U. S. Gold Eagle and Gold Maple Leaf sales for 1H 2014, this is the result:

This post was published at SRSrocco Report on August 27, 2014.