Gold and Silver
Silver trades as the cheaper, more industrial cousin of gold: their prices share the same monetary drivers, part of the world's silver is mined alongside gold, and India is a top buyer of both for jewellery and savings.
Gold (commodity) and Silver (commodity): 5 relationships.
How they are linked
1. Price link: precious metal
Cost and price · Strong · Both ways
Both metals are held as stores of value and react to the same real interest rates, dollar moves and safe haven buying, but silver also depends on industrial demand, so it moves further in both directions.
- 0.77 monthly change correlation
- 0.83 12-month change correlation
- 0.95 fitted elasticity
This is gold's strongest price link on the site. The link weakens when industry drives silver on its own: photovoltaics took about 15% of US silver use in 2025, a demand source gold does not share.
Sources: Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data); USGS
2. Gold-silver ratio
Cost and price · Medium · Gold price divided by silver price
Traders track how many ounces of silver one ounce of gold buys; because silver has a larger industrial component, the ratio widens in slowdowns and narrows when industry and investors both buy silver.
- about 87 gold-silver price ratio, 2025 annual averages ($3,300 and $38 an ounce)
- about 8 to 1 silver to gold mine output by weight, 2025 (26,000 t and 3,300 t)
The price ratio sits far above the physical ratio of about 8 tonnes of silver mined for every tonne of gold, because gold is hoarded rather than consumed. Silver's 2025 average rose 34% against 38% for gold, so the ratio changed little over the year; it is a gauge of relative sentiment, not a fixed anchor.
3. Mined together
Joint production · Medium · Gold mines yield silver
Gold ores often carry silver, which leaves the mine in the same bullion and is split out by refiners, so a share of silver supply follows gold mining decisions rather than silver prices.
- 15.5% share of world mine silver from gold mines, 2024 (127.1 Moz)
- 819.7 Moz world silver mine output, 2024
Silver from gold mines recorded the strongest growth of any source in 2024, up 12% on the year. Because most silver is a by-product of gold, lead-zinc or copper mining (primary silver mines gave under 28% in 2024), a high silver price on its own does little to lift output quickly.
Sources: USGS; The Silver Institute and Metals Focus; The Silver Institute
4. Jewellery and bar buyers
Shared risk · Strong · Same households and investors buy both
Jewellery and physical bars are the largest uses of gold and big uses of silver, so the same consumers, above all in India, shift between the two as prices change.
- 40% share of gold use in jewellery, 2025 (excluding ETFs)
- 24% share of gold use in physical bars, 2025
- 208.7 Moz world silver jewellery fabrication, 2024, up 3% with India the main driver
Silver jewellery fabrication grew in 2024 mainly because of India, while the Silver Institute recorded weaker physical investment overall. Because the buyers overlap, a change in Indian incomes or import duties tends to move demand for both metals together.
Sources: USGS; The Silver Institute and Metals Focus; The Silver Institute
5. India's import bill
Policy · High in India · Both raise India's import bill
India mines far less of either metal than it uses, so household demand for gold and silver is met by imports that weigh on the trade deficit and draw the same policy tools: duties and import curbs.
- $71.98 bn India gold imports, 2025-26 (record; $58 bn in 2024-25)
- about $12 bn India silver imports, 2025-26, up about 150%
Gold alone is over 5% of India's total imports, and India is the world's second-biggest gold consumer after China. The government has placed import curbs on all forms of articles of gold, silver and platinum, so policy on one metal is usually set with the other in mind.
Sources: The Week (PTI)
For investors
Key learnings
- Silver behaves as leveraged gold: the same monetary shocks move both, but silver's industrial demand amplifies and sometimes breaks the link.
- The gold-silver ratio measures relative sentiment, not value; at about 87 on 2025 averages it sat far above the roughly 8 to 1 mine output ratio because gold is stored, not used up.
- Silver supply hardly responds to price because most of it is a by-product of gold and base metal mines, so demand surges show up in price rather than volume.
What to track
- Gold-silver price ratio: A falling ratio signals industrial or investor demand for silver catching up with gold (Daily · LBMA prices)
- India gold and silver import values: Rising imports show household demand holding up despite high prices (Monthly · Ministry of Commerce trade data)
- Gold ETF holdings: Investment flows that drive gold and spill over into silver (Weekly · World Gold Council)
For policymakers
Key learnings
- Gold and silver together are a recurring drain on India's current account, so duty and curb decisions for one affect demand for the other.
- Households switch between the metals with price, so curbing gold imports alone can push buyers into silver.
- Because both are largely by-products or mined abroad, India's supply security rests on trade, refining and recycling, not domestic mining.
What to track
- India precious metal import values: Pressure on the trade deficit and response to duty changes (Monthly · Ministry of Commerce)
- Share of imports traded on IIBX: Progress in routing bullion imports through the GIFT City exchange (Yearly · Silver Institute or IIBX)
India
India is the world's second-biggest gold consumer and a top silver importer: it imported a record $71.98 bn of gold and about $12 bn of silver in 2025-26.
Sources
- Price correlation, Material Insights, Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Gold, USGS (2026)
- Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Silver, USGS (2026)
- World Silver Survey 2025, The Silver Institute and Metals Focus (2025)
- Silver supply and demand, The Silver Institute (2025)
- Gold imports rise 24 pc to USD 71.98 bn in 2025-26 (PTI), The Week (PTI) (2026)