By: David Morgan, Silver Investor, Silver-Investor.com

The Silver Institute just put out a press release which stated, "The silver price, per ounce, in 2008 averaged a strong US$14.98, a nearly 12-percent increase over the 2007 average price of US$13.38; the best average annual price since 1980. A key development in silver’s fortune has been renewed investor interest in the white metal, which began in earnest in 2004 and continues today, as illustrated in the chart below."



Source: The Silver Institute

The Silver Institute’s Press Release also mentioned a Wall Street Journal article from last year (Dec. 31, 2008) which stated that silver is one of the ten investments to watch in 2009. Let me give a big public Thank you to The Silver Institute.

So as some have commented, on average the price of silver looks pretty good and as the chart above depicts we have seen five years of steady increases based on average annual prices.

Moving on I took a clip out of the January issue of The Morgan Report dealing with current news about silver. After publishing it was announced that Apple Computer may be one of the first to implement the use of silver zinc batteries in their laptops.

Silver News

The first issue of course has to do with the amount of silver that has come off the COMEX in December. Unfortunately, I cannot give an exact number, as this report needs to be finished prior to the final de­liveries being shipped. However, as of December 30, 2008, the amount of silver on the COMEX is roughly 127 million ounces and the only really noteworthy event is that more than 9 million ounces changed categories, as we reported earlier.

The Silver Institute reported that zpowerbattery.com has issued a statement indicating that silver-zinc batteries for laptop computers will be available in mid 2009. As stated many times, particularly during my speaking engagements, this will add to the demand side of silver, but it is also recyclable. Do not expect any noticeable increase right away, but as the safety, environmental, and longevity factors become better known, many laptop users will switch to this type of battery. This will also make its way into the cell phone industry at some point, in our view.

NanoMarkets reported that by 2015 approximately 185 million ounces of silver will be used by the electronics industry. The article goes on to state this is not surprising since silver is more conductive than copper, gold, or any other element. There were several references to silver in upcoming nano applications mostly dealing with silver in ink-based products.

The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) in Mumbai, India, announced it will launch gold and silver futures trading on Monday, December 29, 2008.These contracts will trade in lots of 1 kg for gold and 30 kg for silver. The contract size has been defined at these levels because many of these contracts will be physically settled! So, we cannot rule out India’s long history of respecting silver as a store of value and prized for many of the same reasons gold is so favored in the Western cultures.

Finally, I would like to wish all readers a great 2009 and remind them that we have a special contest for all our members through the end of the month, click here for more details. Hint: Most computer users will really like this offer!

It is an honor to be,

David Morgan

Mr. Morgan has followed the silver market daily for more than thirty years. Much of his Web site, www.silver-investor.com, is devoted to education about the precious metals.