ROMA (ITALPRESS) – 2025 was a particularly lively year on the markets, with important movements that featured global lists, currencies and commodities. At the end of the year, it was a commodity that aroused great attention: silver. Between January 2025 and the same month of 2026 its value grew by more than 190%, a larger rally even compared to that of gold – another central commodity in 2025 (+70% over 12 months) – and much more accentuated in the last part of the year.
Silver has thus reached the historical maximum of evaluation, and the price, according to different analysts, will continue to rise. Also net of temporary adjustments to the lower, already several times occurred in the last few weeks but proved so far short breath.
The trend of growth is of interest first because it is a significant discontinuity compared to the past: except for the three-year period following the 2008 crisis, it was since 1980 that silver did not know any increases in this scope.
Several analysts also highlighted the presence of a marked price gap between the main market for derivatives on this commodity – the US COMEX – and Asian squares, such as the Shanghai Gold Exchange, more oriented to physical silver for industrial purposes: from
the last days of 2025 the price spread between the latter and the main western exchange squares has known a remarkable surge, exceeding the 12 dollars in the first two weeks of January and remaining above the 10 on the next days.
But for what reasons is the silver market affected by such significant and unusual price movements?
This is the question at the center of the new Flash Hook of the Study Office of the Fucino Bank: Silver Live: after the golden fever, that of silver.
Silver is a precious metal, whose price closely follows that of gold, but with unique characteristics: unlike gold, its industrial demand is very high, exceeding 58% of the total. This is because the physical-chemical properties of silver make it essential for electronics and solar panels, where it represents about 10% of the final price. In a world increasingly oriented to digitization and ecological transition, silver becomes a strategic metal, with demand concentrated in industrialized countries such as China, USA, Japan, India and Germany. China, in particular, aims to reduce fossil sources and develop solar energy, further pushing the need for silver.
Since 2021 the global demand exceeds the offer, which is hardly increasing because silver is often a by-product of the extraction of other metals such as lead, zinc, copper and gold. The increase in prices can also compress the margins of the industries, in particular the manufacturers of photovoltaic panels, risking the efficiency of the Chinese energy sector.
This scarcity and increasing industrial relevance explain geopolitical choices: In 2025 the US included silver on the list of critical minerals, while China imposed export licenses. In this context, the price of silver is destined to rise, also because it maintains a function of investment assets: historically monetary, today it is seen as a value reserve, related to gold and useful as protection from inflation and macroeconomic risks, especially in a period of increasing uncertainty on the dollar.
The price rally, begun at the end of 2023, accelerated in the last months of 2025, fueled by the conflict between industrial demand and investment demand and the interest of central banks, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, which began to consider silver part of the official reserves. This has created tensions on the markets, with differentials between the West and Asia and backwardation phenomena, a sign that the investedre prefer to physically hold metal rather than long-term contracts.
In perspective, silver will remain the focus of attention: its industrial demand is destined to grow, the geopolitical role of the great powers strengthens pressure on prices, and the volatility of the markets will be more marked and persistent. Moreover, a new state interventionism emerges on the markets of critical raw materials, destined to consolidate itself in a context of geopolitical rivalry and global uncertainty. Silver thus becomes a paradigmatic case of how technology, economy and politics are interwoven, strongly affecting global markets.
-photo press office Banca del Fucino –
(ITALPRESS).
From gold to silver, the new fever of precious metals
