Stacy Summary: h/t to @fiatcurrency for this story re Standard Chartered bank on China. As mentioned before, we saw the bank present to a group of investors in Doha about seven years ago. Standard Chartered was then bragging that it had little exposure to the US and had no plans to as the growth was in Asia, their primary area of business, and the Middle East. Of course, the US got them regardless with a massive fine to Rome (aka DC). But here they are with forecast for China demand for gold and other commodities:
•“It is not inconceivable that by 2016 China will be importing nearly 2,000 tons of gold each year, which is 80 percent of global mine supply,”
UPDATE: Silver imports to India SURGE. I find it very fascinating to compare the differences in culture and mindset to price declines. The Chinese and Indians are acting exactly as Warren Buffett does when he said (and I paraphrase) “I never understand why people get upset when prices of the shares of companies they own go down. I love it as it gives me a better price to buy more.” It seems most in the West are day trading sorts but, unless you have an HFT machine which can execute trades in nano-seconds, then it’s a fool’s game. IMO.
•While India imported 1,900 tonnes of silver in 2012, in the first five months of 2013 alone, imports have touched 2,400 tonnes.
According to industry estimates, silver imports during the January-March quarter stood at 760 tonnes. Imports shot up 720 tonnes in April alone, and in May, they further swelled by 920 tonnes.
UPDATE 2: Premiums soar around the world as no supply to meet the demand for physical gold. Of course, Westerners can express their hatred and fear of gold without any concern for supply thanks to the nature of electrons so ‘price’ can continue to decline, but as Professor Fekete says – – the price of gold is heading for extinction.