some analysts are looking for $25 silver next year:

Silver may yet outshine gold in 2010 as spot prices for the white metal respond to the prospect of a surge in industrial demand. With a little additional help from investment demand, silver may even rally into the $25 an ounce range.

So says Chintan Parikh, a commodity analyst at the CPM Group – a leading New York-based commodities research, consulting, asset management and investment banking organization.

“Prices may spike as high as $25,” he says. At the very least, it should breach its most recent high, which was set at $20.79 in the spring of 2008, he adds.

Parikh says much of this impetus for higher prices is being driven by the fact that traditional industrial end users of silver, such as the ever-burgeoning global electronics industry, have in recent weeks begun to replenish severely depleted inventories.

In fact, silver inventories became so run-down during the financial crisis that it may take up to six months to fully rebuild them to normal levels. Parikh also notes that demand from the industrial sector tends to be quite price inelastic, meaning that buyers have few options other to pay prevailing prices.

Another key driver for 2010 will be the advent of new market places for silver, including pent-up demand for silver-zinc batteries in ‘smart’ automobiles and an array of portable electronic devices, Parikh says.

In fact, the widespread adoption of silver-zinc batteries is going to be “one of the major drivers behind a rise in prices because it may absorb a lot of silver,” he adds. Though this important new application for silver might not necessarily become a major factor in demand for silver as early as next year, it promises to become a very sizeable marketplace, he suggests. And especially for automobiles.

Notably, China is forecast to become a huge adopter of electric cars to curtail its rising dependence on foreign oil and to reduce its air pollution. In fact, electric cars and hybrid plug-ins will account for more than half the auto market in China by 2020, according to Dr. Wolfgang Bernhart, an auto industry expert with the international think tank, Roland Berger.

Furthermore, silver-zinc batteries are destined to generate major market share as they are said to be much safer, more environmentally-friendly and far more energy-efficient than lithium-ion batteries (which currently dominate the markets for smart cars and portable electronics).

Also, the ever-expanding industrial sector for silver now includes LCD/plasma television screens, solar panels, water purification and even medical and superconductivity applications. It is also finding a critical new use in biocides (which use silver in chemical agents to kill dangerous bacteria, including superbugs).

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