Just what Blythe and friends need, more massive silver buying..

Rich farmers now buy silver bars, not jewellery

MUMBAI/PUNE/KOCHI: Rural India is opening a new chapter in personal finance. Instead of jewellery and utensils, farmers are celebrating their rich pickings from high crop prices by buying traditional favourite silver in coins and bars as the precious metal touches a 30-year top of Rs 50,000 per kilo. That’s no small thing. Rural consumers purchase 60% of over 2,000 tonne of silver India imports annually.

Traders say rural families are convinced silver will continue to spiral and therefore want to buy it in forms that are easy to encash later. Coins and bars, with guaranteed purity, make it easy. In 2010, silver outperformed gold in terms of returns, generating three times more.