USA "Pit to Port"* (P2P) exports have propped up global vault stock liquidity.
I've updated my chart of global "liquid" free float estimates with London vaulted ETFs superimposed:
You can see from this chart how, since December 2025, ETF vault drain has supported the LBMA vault stock. From Dec 25 through Apr 26, the ETFs drained ~66M ozt while the LBMA's liquid free float grew ~107M ozt. The ETFs vault stock drain accounted for over 60% of the LBMA liquid free float vault stock growth with the balance accounted for by COMEX/USA silver exports to the UK.
I honestly had expected the ETF drain across the last couple of months (Mar-Apr) to be higher and to fully explain the growth in the global liquid free float estimates, but they do not. The LBMA has shipped more silver to China (SGE/SFE) than ETFs drain can account for.
As I noted yesterday in the post quoted below, the USA has exported ~500t (~17.3M ozt) more silver over Feb-Mar than has been withdrawn from the COMEX over the same period. These "Pit to Port"* (P2P) exports (exports in excess of COMEX withdrawals that month) appear to fully account for the rise in global liquid free float silver vault stock in March (and I'm guessing in April, but we don't have the April export data yet).
Global silver liquid free float change over the last few months:
Feb:
10.5M ozt (this marked the local low)
Mar:
9.3M ozt
Apr:
13.6M ozt
USA "Pit to Port"* (P2P) exports (exports in excess of COMEX withdrawals that month):
Feb: 7.4M ozt
Mar: 9.96M ozt
Apr: TBD
It would appear as if the bullion banks (or vault operators) in the USA have been building a shadow inventory (ie. not in the COMEX system) of silver since some point in 2025 as the COMEX has been starving for consistent deposits (and thus draining vault stock).
It would also appear that they are being forced to release a growing amount of that inventory to support global physical silver demand.
* "Pit to Port" coined by VBL's Ghost (Vince Lanci)
