Shortages in silver, now gold

I've written many times about the chronic shortage of physical silver. This has now moved into the gold market.

Gold is Going a Lot Higher The shortages in the retail bullion market continue to intensify and are spreading to a variety of bullion products. The FT and Reuters report overnight that the US Mint has now "temporarily" suspended the sale of the popular Gold Buffalo coins (1 ozt) due to them not being able to keep up with unprecedented demand. The FT reports that "the shortage of gold coins is the latest sign of investors seeking a safe haven into bullion amid Wall Street woes. Gold prices this week surged above $900 an ounce, up about 20 per cent from its level before the collapse of Lehman Brothers."Retail demand is extremely robust as evidenced in shortages of gold and silver coins and bars internationally, but particularly in the US, India and in Asia. The US and Canadian government mints have not been able to keep up with demand for their legal tender bullion coins and the world's largest gold refinery, Rand Refinery, in South Africa was cleared out of their entire inventory of Krugerrands in one order by an anonymous Swiss buyer - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001uZ2pCvZBz3eEE9Uv_vsozCRtEgr3E6V44a628SObLs_Ltuzd8gFlSvsXGfY7TjXTflM9mI7ApBo7CB-PcMFYpcWTQByOEewadhx-ATx4rNgsyCowEALyD3ikQCRfLCs9yQtVA9AxnyXmmu6XX0jmg_u90uscCT7Tx7JHJm8UxEcNeKQohWK6SLBAcwZ9x1RBuXrtyIfD02_tWgwaZLmcyvpogYO4Ucur.Premiums on nearly all gold and silver bullion products continue to rise significantly. Some premiums are actually increasing on a daily basis. Gold and Silver Investments are now paying a wholesale premium of 4.5% over spot for Krugerrands in volume, up from 3.2% two weeks ago and up from near spot or melt value a year ago.Some of the largest wholesalers in the US have no stock left of silver bullion coins (Eagles and Maples) and silver bullion bars (1, 10 and 100 ozt) and are running low on 90% and 40% silver bags ($1000 face value worth of the actual silver coins used as currency in the US pre 1965). Increasingly there are delivery delays on a swathe of bullion products including on older European coins like British sovereigns. Some wholesalers are not just talking about delays of a few weeks but delivery delays into 2009 on certain products. These shortages are leading to premiums going up sharply on all bullion products . Some large wholesale bullion dealers have assigned and appointed a dedicated person to monitor pricing and raise premiums as required in accordance with lack of supply and rising demand.The confluence of supply and demand, macroeconomic, inflation and systemic factors is leading to extremely bullish conditions for the gold market - probably even more bullish than in the 1970s when gold rose some 3,000% from $35 to over $850 in just 9 years.