Silver and gold demand right now is reaching for the sky. Gold is higher than it has EVER been and silver is seeing increases that we have not seen in years. No doubt, the uncertainty involving the world’s issues, mainly the COVID-19 pandemic, is what has caused such an interest in precious metal investment. However, with the limited structure of the United States Mint’s production as a result of proper and necessary safety measures for their employees, they are having a hard time keeping up with the demand of the American Silver Eagle bullion coins.
Back in mid-April, the Mint branch at Philadelphia was commissioned to produce 240,000 American Silver Eagles in wake of the West Point Mint’s shutdown due to the coronavirus. Those silver bullion coins touted as “Emergency Production” by grading companies would be identified on monster boxes to easily identify them from coins that were already minted at West Point. In addition to West Point being closed in mid-April, the branch mint at San Francisco was also shut down from March 18th until May 4th due to the governor’s executive orders.
While both Philadelphia and San Francisco are now back in production, they may be commissioned to produce 2020 Silver Eagle bullion coins to help West Point’s output due to increased demand. Or at least it was discussed between Mint officials and the top 12 authorized worldwide purchasers of the American Silver Eagle bullion coins, according to Coin World. Authorized dealers are said to have already experienced a reduced amount of inventory for these coins due to the restrictive production that fell on the Mint previously.
However, a spokesman for the United States Mint told Coin World in late July that the Mint has produced and sold nearly 1 million more ounces of bullion during the fiscal year (June) of 2020 than it did in the same period of time in 2019. But during these current challenging times, the United States Mint is facing low allocations to the authorized dealers worldwide, nine of which are from the United States of America. These allocations are not currently meeting the demand from the public which puts pressure on how dealers buy, sell, and distribute to meet demand but also how they forecast for future sales.
While West Point is still and currently the primary facility for the production of bullion, other Mint facilities can be brought in to encourage increased production when demand sees fit.
Source: Coin World