U.S. silver usage declines during second quarter

An 8.6% drop in the use of silver for photographic material, the metal’s largest user category, resulted in an over-all drop of 1.3 million oz in the U.S. during 1986’s second quarter says the Silver Users Association.

The Washington-based organization says 31.4 million oz of silver were used in the 3-month period, about a 4% decline from the same period a year earlier. Use for photographic materials declined to 13.9 million oz from 15.2 million oz.

In contrast with this year’s downward shift in second quarter figures, the organization says for the first six months of 1986 silver usage was 3.9 million oz higher than a year earlier, a 6.5% improvement. Photography usage for the first half registered a slight increase to 29.2 million oz.

Since 1981 there have been some 264 million oz of silver produced from mines, recycled from scrap or imported which were surplus to industrial requirements says the association. “This is an accumulation of 4.8 million oz per month during that period. This also contrasts with reports by newsletter editors citing shortages of the white metal.”