Commodities

Global – October 31, 2026 -- Industrial fabrication consumed 657.4 million ounces of silver in 2025, down 3% from the 2024 record of 680.5 million ounces, according to the World Silver Survey 2026. Metals Focus forecasts a further decline of roughly 3% in 2026, to 639.6 million ounces.

Industrial use remains the largest broad component of silver demand. It accounted for well over half of the approximately 1.13 billion ounces of total demand in 2025, so shifts in industrial consumption can alter the wider supply-demand balance.

Solar thrifting drives the decline as installations keep growing

Photovoltaic demand reached a record 197.6 million ounces in 2024, about 29% of industrial silver demand, up from roughly 11% a decade earlier. The World Silver Survey 2026 attributes much of the 2025 reversal to changing silver use within solar manufacturing, not to weakness in electrification or electronics.

NEW YORK – October 30, 2026 -- Bloomberg raised the Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) target weight for Precious Metals to 19.49% for 2027, the group's second-highest level in the index's history, while Grains fell to a record-low 20.61%.

The index will keep its 25 exchange-traded contracts on physical commodities. The new weights take effect during the January 2027 roll period.

Silver and gold lift Precious Metals to its second-highest weight on record

Silver's weight rose to 4.56%, driving the Precious Metals increase. Gold's weight edged up to 14.93%, just below the index's 15% single-commodity cap, and Gold remains the largest individual component.

Corn, soybeans and wheat each hit record-low weights, pushing Grains to 20.61%

All three commodities reached their lowest target weights in BCOM history. Grains recorded the sharpest structural decline among the commodity groups.