Hallmarking falls sharply in December amid weak full-year results
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The total number of hallmarked items nose-dived in December by 15.7%, a decrease of 145,007 pieces when compared with December 2015.
Figures released by the four UK assay offices – compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office – found there was a total of 781,200 articles hallmarked during the month, down from the 926,207 items recorded in the previous December.
The high-value category of gold recorded the sharpest fall in hallmarking, down 20.7% from 436,453 items to 346,060. Both 9-carat and 18-carat reported large falls of 22.8% and 18.6%, respectively.
The number of silver and platinum pieces hallmarked fell 11.5% and 11.2% respectively, while palladium was the only precious metal not to record a decline as the number of hallmarked items grew 16%.
The assay offices also released hallmarking data for the entirety 2016, which saw a 7.1% decrease in hallmarked pieces from 10,495,355 in 2015 to 9,748,033 in 2016 – 747,322 less pieces.
Gold particularly suffered throughout the year as the number of 9-carat pieces hallmarked fell 6% and 18-carat items fell 3.8%.
Hallmarking figures for December:
| Month | Month | Variance | % | |||
| Dec-15 | Dec-16 | |||||
| Gold | ||||||
| 999 | 27 | 71 | 44 | 163.0 | ||
| 990 | 29 | 1 | -28 | 0.0 | ||
| 916 | 29,500 | 26,512 | -2,988 | -10.1 | ||
| 750 | 77,514 | 63,134 | -14,380 | -18.6 | ||
| 585 | 8,928 | 9,064 | 136 | 1.5 | ||
| 375 | 320,455 | 247,278 | -73,177 | -22.8 | ||
| 436,453 | 346,060 | -90,393 | -20.7 | |||
| Silver | ||||||
| 999 | 758 | 627 | -131 | -17.3 | ||
| 958 | 1,210 | 1,024 | -186 | -15.4 | ||
| 925 | 458,901 | 406,206 | -52,695 | -11.5 | ||
| 800 | 58 | 4 | -54 | -93.1 | ||
| 460,927 | 407,861 | -53,066 | -11.5 | |||
| Platinum | ||||||
| 999 | 1 | 60 | 59 | 100.0 | ||
| 950 | 22,636 | 20,028 | -2,608 | -11.5 | ||
| 900 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 900.0 | ||
| 850 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 33.3 | ||
| 22,641 | 20,102 | -2,539 | -11.2 | |||
| Palladium | ||||||
| 999 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| 950 | 5,741 | 6,578 | 837 | 14.6 | ||
| 500 | 445 | 599 | 154 | 34.6 | ||
| 6,186 | 7,177 | 991 | 16.0 | |||
| Totals | 926,207 | 781,200 | -145,007 | -15.7 | ||
Hallmarking figures for full-year 2016:
| Ytd | Ytd | Variance | % | |||
| Dec-15 | Dec-16 | |||||
| Gold | ||||||
| 999 | 784 | 821 | 37 | 4.7 | ||
| 990 | 132 | 117 | -15 | -11.4 | ||
| 916 | 512,270 | 447,830 | -64,440 | -12.6 | ||
| 750 | 896,952 | 862,509 | -34,443 | -3.8 | ||
| 585 | 97,618 | 106,272 | 8,654 | 8.9 | ||
| 375 | 3,642,448 | 3,425,213 | -217,235 | -6.0 | ||
| 5,150,204 | 4,842,762 | -307,442 | -6.0 | |||
| Silver | ||||||
| 999 | 18,703 | 21,969 | 3,266 | 17.5 | ||
| 958 | 14,728 | 15,491 | 763 | 5.2 | ||
| 925 | 4,927,677 | 4,479,514 | -448,163 | -9.1 | ||
| 800 | 5,487 | 825 | -4,662 | -85.0 | ||
| 4,966,595 | 4,517,799 | -448,796 | -9.0 | |||
| Platinum | ||||||
| 999 | 42 | 103 | 61 | 145.2 | ||
| 950 | 279,437 | 287,997 | 8,560 | 3.1 | ||
| 900 | 253 | 195 | -58 | -22.9 | ||
| 850 | 156 | 138 | -18 | -11.5 | ||
| 279,888 | 288,433 | 8,545 | 3.1 | |||
| Palladium | ||||||
| 999 | 575 | 5 | -570 | -99.1 | ||
| 950 | 82,235 | 84,650 | 2,415 | 2.9 | ||
| 500 | 15,858 | 14,384 | -1,474 | -9.3 | ||
| 98,668 | 99,039 | 371 | 0.4 | |||
| Totals | 10,495,355 | 9,748,033 | -747,322 | -7.1 | ||
