Soaring worldwide gold, silver prices lead to surge in trading in Estonia

Tue Jan 20 2026

Estonia's precious-metal traders say they are swamped at a time when both gold and silver have hit record-high prices on the world markets.

Shortages are felt most in silver, where sales have surged. At the start of this year, the world market price of gold exceeded the threshold of US$4,700 per ounce for the first time. Silver prices are now making a record-breaking rise, with more than US$90 per ounce having to be paid.

Precious metals dealers operating in Estonia say almost unanimously that, due to the high market prices of gold and silver, their purchase and sales volumes have also risen sharply.

Ljubov-Luule Emmar, owner and managing director of Luutar OÜ, a pawnshop chain with more than 20 branches nationwide, said significantly more precious metal is being sold than was the case a couple of years ago. Compared with the beginning of 2025, volumes have nearly doubled, she said.

At the same time, the unprecedentedly high price of gold and silver has also put pressure on traders dealing in precious metals. Emmar gave as an example that, whereas if two years ago they paid €2,800 for a 100-gram gold chain, nowadays they'd have to pay nearly €6,600 for the same item.

Source: https://news.err.ee