Physical Precious Metals More Available, Premiums Declining
By the middle of March, demand in the U.S. for physical precious metals, especially gold and silver, was so strong that retailer inventories were largely depleted. As dealers attempted to restock from suppliers, wholesale inventories ran out. As primary distributors and other wholesalers sought to order more product from government mints and private fabricators, the mints and fabricators also ran out of immediately available inventory.
Availability of some products that are no longer in current production, such as U.S. 90 percent silver coins, U.S. American Arts medallions, South Africa krugerrands, Austria 100 coronas, British sovereigns, Mexico 50 pesos, and
