In a move towards greater transparency and timeliness the London vaults will on the 5th business day of each month publish the amount of silver they were holding at the end of the previous month. These figures provide an important insight into London’s ability to underpin the physical OTC market.
As at end February 2021, there were 34,996 tonnes of silver, valued at $30 billion. This equates to approximately 1,166,540 silver bars. This represents a 1.89% increase in volume of holdings from the previous month. For further details including historical data please refer to our website.
Vault Holdings of Silver (end month. Troy ounces, ‘000s)
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1,146,502 | 1,65,549 | 1,104,241 |
| February | 1,148,400 | 1,170,061 | 1,125,154 |
| March | 1,163,695 | 1,175,737 | |
| April | 1,159,570 | 1,146,719 | |
| May | 1,152,110 | 1,145,072 | |
| June | 1,143,018 | 1,115,657 | |
| July | 1,140,675 | 1,093,482 | |
| August | 1,145,738 | 1,073,500 | |
| September | 1,146,308 | 1,077,299 | |
| October | 1,153,427 | 1,075,121 | |
| November | 1,160,517 | 1,076,242 | |
| December | 1,162,162 | 1,080,538 |
LBMA are also working towards publishing the gold vault numbers on a similar basis in the future.
The data represents the holdings of six custodians offering vaulting services (all of which are LBMA members). They comprise three security carriers (Brinks, Malca-Amit and Loomis International Ltd) and three clearing banks (HSBC, ICBC Standard Bank and JP Morgan).