Silver bars are stacked in the locker room of the gold house Pro Aurum in Munich on January 10, 2025.
Angelika Warmuth | Reuters
BEIJING – China will tighten controls Silver Exports starting Thursday, expanding restrictions on the once-common metal that is crucial to U.S. industry and defense supply chains.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized the move on his social media platform X over the weekend, responding to a post about the upcoming restrictions.
“This is not good. Silver is needed in many industrial processes,” Musk wrote.
But the rules are not new. China's Commerce Ministry first announced the new measures in October to strengthen oversight of rare metals, the same day that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in South Korea. At that time, Beijing agreed to a one-year suspension of export controls on certain rare earths while the US rolled back tariffs.
Earlier this month, China released a list of 44 companies approved to export silver in 2026 and 2027 under the new measures. The new rules in 2026 also restrict exports of tungsten and antimony, materials that dominate China's supply chain and are widely used in defense and advanced technologies.
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While China has not announced a blanket export ban on silver, the state-run Securities Times newspaper on Tuesday quoted an unnamed industry insider as saying the new policy formally elevates the metal from a common commodity to a strategic material and puts its export controls on the same regulatory footing as rare earths.
The EU Chamber of Commerce in China found in a flash survey of members in November that the majority of respondents had been affected or expected to be affected by these Chinese export controls.
The U.S. added silver to its national list of critical minerals in November, citing its use in electrical circuits, batteries, solar cells and antibacterial medical instruments. According to a separate US analysis, China was one of the world's largest silver producers in 2024 and was also home to one of the largest reserves.
According to Wind Information, citing official figures, China exported more than 4,600 tons of silver in the first 11 months of the year, far more than the roughly 220 tons of imports during that period.
The restrictions on silver come at a time when interest in the metal has increased in recent weeks.
Two Chinese companies contacted Canada-based Kuya Silver on Friday and offered to buy physical silver at a price about $8 above the then-market price, CEO David Stein confirmed to CNBC. He said one company was a manufacturer and the other was a large trading company.
An Indian buyer approached Kuya on Monday with an offer of $10 above the market price, he added.
Conservative digital media outlet The Free Press on Tuesday carried a column by George Mason University economics professor Tyler Cowen in which he said the rise in silver and gold prices reflected investors' shift away from the U.S. dollar.
He called the price rise “a flashing warning to the world.” [U.S.] Business.”
The US dollar index fell nearly 9.5% in 2025, its worst performance since 2017.
In contrast, silver prices have more than doubled and are on track for their best year since 1979, when the metal rose nearly 470%. Silver prices fell on Wednesday after hitting a record high above $80 an ounce earlier in the week, with spot prices last trading around $73.
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Gold has gained more than 60% so far this year and is also on track for its best year since 1979.
BitcoinGold prices, sometimes touted as an alternative to gold as a store of value, were trading at about $88,000 on Wednesday morning Beijing time, down more than 5% on the year.
—CNBC's Chris Hayes contributed to this report.