UPDATE: Shanghai Silver Warehouse Stocks Fall 24% In One Week
As I mentioned in a earlier article, the Comex is more of a paper trading exchange in which the majority of contracts are settled in cash. However, the opposite is the case with the Shanghai Futures Exchange as the majority of contracts are settled with physical metal.
At the beginning of August, there were 148 metric tons of silver on warrant at the Shanghai Futures Exchange. In just three weeks, 29% of the total inventory was removed. The majority of this decline took place last week when 22 metric tons were withdrawn on Friday alone.
Also, we can see that since the beginning of July, 131 metric tons, or 56% of total silver stocks were removed from the Shanghai Futures Exchange. At this trend, it would only take a few more months to totally wipe out the remaining inventory.