Gold import volume dips 18%, silver surges 56%

NEW DELHI: Despite the surge in gold and silver imports upsetting the trade balance, the trends for the two precious metals are very different.

With the average price of gold rising nearly 25% on a year-on-year basis to $94,554 a kg during April-Dec, buyers became cautious, resulting in demand falling. Data released by the commerce department slowed gold import volume dipped 18.3% to 522 tonnes during the nine-month period. But higher unit value meant that the value of imports was 1.8% higher at $49.4 billion.

In contrast, despite silver price (unit value) soaring 46.7% to $1,357 a kg, imports shot up 56% to 5,727 tonnes. As a result, silver imports more than doubled in April-Dec to $7.8 billion against $3.4 billion in nine-month period in 2024. A part of the reason is industrial use for silver, whereas gold is seen more as an investment instrument.