HANDY AND HARMAN SEES SUFFICIENT SILVER SUPPLIES

  World stocks of silver are large
  enough to accommodate any changes in the supply-demand equation
  this year, with industrial consumption expected to again exceed
  mine production, the dealer house Handy and Harman said in its
  annual review of the silver market.
      The house estimated that the industry last year withdrew
  20,000,000 ounces of silver from stocks to bridge a supply
  deficit caused by a consumption rate of 403,000,000 ounces and
  production level of 382,000,000 ounces.
      However, world stocks are huge, totaling 2,267,900,000
  ounces at the end of 1986, it said.
      The review noted that world industrial consumption has been
  on an uptrend since 1980, although offtake is still 14 pct
  below the 1978 level of 442,000,000 ounces.
      Handy and Harman said 22,800,000 ounces of silver were used
  to produce coins last year, up from 12,700,000 ounces in 1985,
  with the demand getting a big boost from the production of U.S.
  coins, including the American Eagle.
      It also said that in recent years Communist countries have
  increased their silver imports and estimated that China and
  East Germany alone took in 70,000,000 ounces of foreign silver
  in the last five years.
  

