COMEX Silver drawdown partially reversed last week

I recently reported that over 7 million ounces of gold flowed out of COMEX vaults the week of Sept. 10-17.

Last week, silver flowed back into the COMEX system, partially reversing the drawdown.

During the week of Sept. 18-25, around 2.5 million ounces of silver entered COMEX vaults. With the additional metal, total inventory stood at 332.6 million ounces on Sept. 25, about 4.6 million ounces below the Sept. 10 level.

Registered inventory (silver eligible for delivery) fell by 1 million ounces last week. However, eligible inventory (silver in the COMEX system but not available for delivery) grew by 3.5 million ounces.  

In a nutshell, registered silver stocks declined, but total physical stocks increased. This signals category movement and net deposits, not escalating depletion of physical silver.

This takes the threat of an imminent silver squeeze off the table for the time being. While the outflow during the week of September 10th was unusually large, it looks more like a discreet withdrawal, not the beginning of persistent vault depletion.

However, given that total COMEX inventory remains 4.6 million ounces below levels reported earlier this month, you should continue to closely watch silver flows in and out of the COMEX system. With global silver supply tightness, a metal shortage could develop quickly.