Hallmarking falls sharply in December amid weak full-year results

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

Hallmarking falls sharply in December amid weak full-year results

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