By Anushree Mukherjee

(Reuters) - Prices of silver dropped to over eight-week lows on Friday as concerns about demand for the industrial precious metal dominated sentiment due to recession fears stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump's slew of tariffs.

Silver typically tends to move alongside gold, but industrial uses such as electronics and photovoltaics account for more than half of global demand, estimated at around 700.2 million troy ounces as of 2024, according to the Silver Institute industry association.

While gold, traditionally seen as a refuge from political and economic uncertainty, has touched multiple record highs this year, silver has struggled to break through the 12-year peak at $34.87 an ounce it hit on October 22, 2024.

At $31.00 an ounce, silver has dropped nearly 9% since Trump's latest tariffs announcements on Wednesday.

"I would expect silver to lag gold until there is more economic clarity and a resolution in trade and tariff risks, given silver's exposure to industrial activity and PMIs," said Aakash Doshi, global head of gold strategy at State Street Global Advisors.

Trump's tariffs, robust central bank buying, increased flows into gold-backed exchange traded funds and worries about inflationary pressures have fuelled safe-haven gold's surge in 2025. Spot prices hit a record high of $3,167.57 on Thursday.

But the gold-silver ratio, a measure of the amounts of silver needed to buy one ounce of gold, is currently at 100, its highest level since June 2020.

"The upside provided by heightened safe-haven demand will be capped by silver's negative industrial angle," said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at brokerage firm ActivTrades.

"I see prices range bound around the current levels, with support at $33.5 and resistance at $34.5."

Silver is moving with industrial metals, which are also under pressure from worries about global growth and demand due to U.S. tariff and global trade tensions. [MET/L]

However, sustained silver purchases by ETFs should help silver keep up with gold in the near-term, barring a rapidly worsening global economic outlook, said Exinity Group's chief market analyst Han Tan. [GOL/ETF]