WHOEVER wins the silverware at football's UEFA Euro 2024 Championship this summer, the winner in silver bullion investing is already clear, writes Adrian Ash at BullionVault.

 

From the 24 nations competing to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy on 14 July, investors in Hungary top the league table for largest average silver holdings at BullionVault, the world-leading marketplace for private investment in precious metals. Behind comes Portugal, followed by Switzerland and Austria for the heaviest median investment in buying vaulted silver bullion online.

 

For total silver holdings by country, BullionVault's home nation England wins, followed by Germany, France and the Netherlands.

 

 

 

Note: This table of silver investment holdings among the Euro 2024 countries uses the median average, not the mean. So it shows the typical silver holdings among BullionVault users in each footballing nation, with half of them owning more and half of them less than the figure given. Sort the table by clicking the column headings.

 

While the price of gold has been winning the financial headlines this spring, surging to new record highs, silver has outperformed its precious-metal cousin, rising 23.9% for UK investors – almost twice the 12.7% rise in gold prices – since New Year's Eve.

 

Reaching the highest prices since 2011, silver has also beaten this year's other stellar investments to date, outpacing copper (up 14.5%) and even the Nasdaq index of US tech stocks (up 19.1%) but lagging Bitcoin (up 50.3%).

 

Making winners of investors choosing to buy silver ahead of this surge, these big 2024 gains come as silver's critical role in industry and new technologies – especially green energy – sees global demand for the precious metal outstrip new mining supply for the second year running. Vital to solar energy panels as the conductive layer in photovoltaic cells, silver is also crucial in electrical networks and in electronics, too. 

 

Analysts predict that demand for silver jewellery is also rising in 2024, along with demand for silver ornaments, cutlery and other silverware. 

 

The current Henri Delaunay trophy – named after the first General Secretary of UEFA – was made by London jewellers Asprey in 2008. Made from 8 kilograms of Sterling silver, the cup contains £5,468 of bullion at today's prices. While it represents one of the world's most coveted trophies, it is lighter than the Premier League trophy (9.5kg without its base) but slightly heavier than the UEFA Champions League trophy (7.5kg) or FA Cup (6.3kg).

 

Altogether, users of BullionVault today own 1,164 tonnes of silver – worth £866 million today, and enough to make 157,380 Euro trophies – all stored and insured inside high-security vaults. More than half of it is held in Switzerland (53.9%), one third in London (37.5%), plus a little in Singapore (6.4%) and Toronto (2.1%).

 

Unlike silver coins or small bars bought from retail dealers, all silver traded on BullionVault is free of VAT sales tax, avoiding the 20% surcharge which UK residents otherwise face. That enables the investor to win much larger gains when the precious metal rises in value.