The total number of hallmarked items fell by 1% in December suggesting a flat Christmas, but the annual figures for full-year 2015 edged up by 1% compared with the previous year.
Data from all four assay offices in the UK – compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office – showed the total number of items hallmarked during 2015 was 10,495,355 – up from 10,395,236 the previous year.
Despite this, during the month of December the number of items hallmarked fell from 935,521 in the same month last year to 926,207. This drop was largely down to gold which reported an overall drop of 3.2%.
Platinum soared during the month by 20.1%, however silver remained relatively flat with a 0.4% increase on the previous year and the number of palladium items hallmarked fell 5.5%.
Across the full year, gold and platinum performed well recording increases of 2.4% and 9.4% respectively, while silver articles fell 0.8% and palladium fell 6.7%.
December results:
| Month | Month | Variance | % | |||
| Dec-14 | Dec-15 | |||||
| Gold | ||||||
| 999 | 41 | 27 | -14 | -34.1 | ||
| 990 | 0 | 29 | 29 | 100.0 | ||
| 916 | 29,766 | 29,500 | -266 | -0.9 | ||
| 750 | 83,089 | 77,514 | -5,575 | -6.7 | ||
| 585 | 7,394 | 8,928 | 1,534 | 20.7 | ||
| 375 | 330,690 | 320,455 | -10,235 | -3.1 | ||
| 450,980 | 436,453 | -14,527 | -3.2 | |||
| Silver | ||||||
| 999 | 1,013 | 758 | -255 | -25.2 | ||
| 958 | 352 | 1,210 | 858 | 243.8 | ||
| 925 | 457,731 | 458,901 | 1,170 | 0.3 | ||
| 800 | 50 | 58 | 8 | 16.0 | ||
| 459,146 | 460,927 | 1,781 | 0.4 | |||
| Platinum | ||||||
| 999 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| 950 | 18,712 | 22,636 | 3,924 | 21.0 | ||
| 900 | 7 | 1 | -6 | -85.7 | ||
| 850 | 130 | 3 | -127 | -97.7 | ||
| 18,850 | 22,641 | 3,791 | 20.1 | |||
| Palladium | ||||||
| 999 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| 950 | 5,451 | 5741 | 290 | 5.3 | ||
| 500 | 1,094 | 445 | -649 | -59.3 | ||
| 6,545 | 6186 | -359 | -5.5 | |||
| 935,521 | 926,207 | -9,314 | -1.0 |
Full-year 2015 results:
| Year | Year | Variance | % | |||
| Dec-14 | Dec-15 | |||||
| Gold | ||||||
| 999 | 699 | 784 | 85 | 12.2 | ||
| 990 | 33 | 132 | 99 | 300.0 | ||
| 916 | 461,828 | 512,270 | 50,442 | 10.9 | ||
| 750 | 881,685 | 896,952 | 15,267 | 1.7 | ||
| 585 | 87,526 | 97,618 | 10,092 | 11.5 | ||
| 375 | 3,596,520 | 3,642,448 | 45,928 | 1.3 | ||
| 5,028,291 | 5,150,204 | 121,913 | 2.4 | |||
| Silver | ||||||
| 999 | 19,498 | 18,703 | -795 | -4.1 | ||
| 958 | 8,913 | 14,728 | 5,815 | 65.2 | ||
| 925 | 4,976,270 | 4,927,677 | -48,593 | -1.0 | ||
| 800 | 635 | 5,487 | 4,852 | 764.1 | ||
| 5,005,316 | 4,966,595 | -38,721 | -0.8 | |||
| Platinum | ||||||
| 999 | 20 | 42 | 22 | 110.0 | ||
| 950 | 254,963 | 279,437 | 24,474 | 9.6 | ||
| 900 | 219 | 253 | 34 | 15.5 | ||
| 850 | 717 | 156 | -561 | -78.2 | ||
| 255,919 | 279,888 | 23,969 | 9.4 | |||
| Palladium | ||||||
| 999 | 0 | 575 | 575 | 100.0 | ||
| 950 | 86,499 | 82235 | -4,264 | -4.9 | ||
| 500 | 19,211 | 15858 | -3,353 | -17.5 | ||
| 105,710 | 98,668 | -7,042 | -6.7 | |||
| 10,395,236 | 10,495,355 | 100,119 | 1.0 |
