this is from david morgan's article "silver and the chinese" in which he points out that even china is not immune to economic conditions. silver production grew only 10% last year, and will slow even further this year. it has already been noted that silvercorp has closed all but its most high grade mine, so it all fits together. investor demand for silver is growing, but supply isn't.

China's annual silver output growth already slowed to 10 percent last year compared with an average 30 percent between 2001 and 2006, Zhou said. `There won't be much growth going forward'' in the next few months, Zhou said. While producers are still ``doing ok,'' they are faced with an increasingly difficult environment, including tighter financing and reduced export market, he said.

http://news.silverseek.com/SilverInv...