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Shanghai Silver Price in US Dollars

By the Silver Market Chart editorial team · Updated November 10, 2026

Quick answer: The Shanghai Gold Exchange's morning silver benchmark for November 9, 2026 was 12,760 yuan per kilogram. Converted at that day's European Central Bank exchange rate, that is $59.48 per troy ounce. Set against the last COMEX silver futures close before the benchmark was fixed, $51.80 on November 6, 2026, the Shanghai figure differed by +14.8% (a plus sign means Shanghai was higher). Across the past year the gap has run from +0.4% to +26.5%, and its median was +11.9%.

Shanghai Gold Exchange silver benchmark (morning), November 9, 2026

$59.48USD / oz

  • 12,760 yuan per kilogram, as published
  • $51.80 last COMEX futures close before it, November 6, 2026
  • +14.8% Shanghai over the US price

SGE data read ; USD/CNY 6.6728, European Central Bank reference rate of November 9, 2026 via Frankfurter.

Shanghai is where a large share of the world's physical silver changes hands in yuan, and its price often sits apart from the one quoted in New York and London. The card above shows the latest benchmark in both currencies. Below, you can see exactly how we turn yuan per kilogram into dollars per ounce, why we line it up with an earlier US close rather than the same calendar day, and what a gap between the two markets can and cannot tell you. If you came here for the US price itself, it sits on the silver market price chart with its time stamp.

The conversion, step by step

The exchange quotes this benchmark in yuan per kilogram. American quotes are in dollars per troy ounce, a unit of 31.1034768 grams, so a kilogram holds about 32.1507 troy ounces. Getting from one to the other takes two divisions, and nothing else.

First, divide the yuan-per-kilogram benchmark by 32.1507. That gives 396.88 yuan per ounce. Second, divide that by the number of yuan one dollar bought on the same date, which the European Central Bank's reference rates put at 6.6728. The result is $59.48 per ounce. The box below repeats the arithmetic with every intermediate figure, so you can check it with a calculator.

  1. Start with SGE's morning benchmark for November 9, 2026: 12,760 yuan per kilogram.
  2. Divide by 32.1507 troy ounces in a kilogram: 396.88 yuan per ounce.
  3. Divide by that day's ECB rate of 6.6728 yuan per dollar: $59.48 per ounce.
  4. Compare with the last COMEX close before the fixing, $51.80 on November 6, 2026: +14.8%.

We read the exchange rate through the Frankfurter service, which republishes the ECB's daily reference rates. It gives one dated figure per business day that anyone can look up, which matters more for a published comparison than a rate taken at some unknown minute. The trade-off is small: the ECB figure is not the rate at the moment the Shanghai fixing finished, so a dollar figure worked out with a live currency quote can land a few cents away from ours.

Why we compare with the previous US close

The morning benchmark is fixed during the Beijing morning. The exchange's 2019 rules list a 9:45 a.m. start for the morning silver fixing and 2:30 p.m. for the afternoon one, without naming a time zone, and they let the exchange change those times by announcement. Beijing morning is the previous evening in New York. So when Shanghai sets its price for a given date, the latest finished US trading day is the one before it, and the US close for the Shanghai date itself does not exist yet.

That is why our comparison pairs each benchmark with the last COMEX futures close before it was set. In the current reading, the Shanghai date is November 9, 2026 and the US close is from November 6, 2026. Weekends and holidays can stretch the gap between the two dates by a few days.

Pairing by calendar date looks tidier, and it can mislead badly. On January 30, 2026, US silver futures fell 31.4% in one session, as CNBC reported. Shanghai's benchmark for that date had been fixed hours before the fall began in New York. Divide it by that evening's US close, and a crash day shows up as an enormous Shanghai premium that no trader in either market ever saw. Comparing with the earlier close keeps the two prices in the right order in time. More on how that fall unfolded is on our page about why the silver price is dropping.

The premium over the past year

Shanghai premium, past year

0%10%20%30% High +26.5% +14.8% Nov 2025Feb 2026May 2026Aug 2026Nov 2026
Linear scale · Shanghai premium over the prior US close, past year: from +6.0% (Nov 2025) to +14.8% (Nov 2026); high +26.5%, low +0.4%. Linear scale.

SGE morning benchmark (en.sge.com.cn) converted at ECB rates, against the last COMEX silver futures close before each fixing (Yahoo Finance). 242 matched days; linear scale.

The chart plots each day's gap between the morning benchmark, in dollars, and the US close that came before it. Over the past year the lowest reading was +0.4%, the highest +26.5%, and the median +11.9%. The line is jagged for two reasons. Both prices move every day, and so does the exchange rate in the middle of the calculation. A single day's spike is worth less than the level the line keeps returning to.

What the Shanghai Gold Exchange benchmark is

The exchange's data page labels the contract SHAG. It is quoted in yuan per kilogram, trades in 15-kilogram lots and settles two days after the trade. The metal behind it is silver ingots the exchange recognizes, with a standard weight of 15 kilograms and a minimum fineness of 999.9.

Prices are set twice a day. The exchange's rules describe a morning pricing session and an afternoon pricing session, each producing its own benchmark, and for contracts with two sessions the afternoon benchmark is used as the settlement price. The exchange's own chart names its two data series 早盘价 (morning price) and 午盘价 (midday or afternoon price). This site uses the morning series, because it is the first price each Beijing day and it sits closest in time to the previous US close.

How a fixing works: members submit reference prices, an initial price is set from them, and rounds of bidding adjust that price until the gap between buy and sell orders falls inside an execution threshold. The rules name Ag(T+D) as the matching contract for those reference prices; the exchange lists Ag(T+D) as a deferred margin contract that rolls over each day. In November 2024 the exchange cut the silver execution threshold from 9,000 kilograms to 7,500 kilograms.

The benchmark is young. The exchange's president wrote in LBMA's Alchemist magazine that Shanghai Silver would launch in October 2019, and the earliest point in the exchange's own chart data is dated October 14, 2019.

Why Shanghai can sit above or below the US price

Tax is the reason cited most often. China's VAT Law sets a 13% rate on goods sold and on goods imported, with listed exceptions, and it took effect on January 1, 2026. The law does not name silver. No official page we read says the 13% applies to silver in particular, or that the SGE benchmark includes VAT, and the secondary explainers we read contradict one another on whether headline premium figures include it. Kitco, in a September 2026 opinion piece, wrote that silver imports bear 13% VAT unless refined bullion is re-exported, and that tax and licensing keep the gap open rather than shipping cost.

Trade rules are the second strand. Secondary reports describe an October 2025 announcement by China's commerce ministry and export licences for silver in 2026; we could not read the ministry's own page, so we report only that those summaries exist.

Local demand is the third. When buyers inside China want more metal than can be brought in quickly, a price set in yuan, for delivery in Shanghai, can rise against London and New York and stay there until metal moves. When local demand is weak, the gap can shrink or turn negative. Exchange rates add noise on top, which is why the line on the chart rarely sits still. For a wider view of how silver compares with the other metal on the same screens, see gold and silver market prices.

How to read "Shanghai versus US" headlines

Headlines that set one Shanghai dollar figure beside one US figure are common, and each pair hides choices. Kitco, citing a third-party data site, put the gap on August 28, 2026 at $8.72 an ounce, or 13.12%, with Shanghai at $75.16 against $66.44 in London and New York, and noted that the figure moves daily. That is a fair snapshot. Before you compare it with ours, or with any other, ask five questions.

Which Shanghai price is it? The morning benchmark, the afternoon benchmark, the Ag(T+D) contract or the silver futures on the separate Shanghai Futures Exchange are four different numbers. Which US price? A spot quote and a futures price for a later month can differ, as our page on spot vs futures price explains. Taken at what moment? A comparison made while one market is shut uses a stale price on one side. Which exchange rate, and from when? A rate that moves while the metal does not still changes the gap. And does the Shanghai figure carry tax, or has someone tried to strip it out? The sources disagree there, so a headline that does not say is not telling you everything.

Our own method answers each question on the page: the morning benchmark, the previous COMEX futures close, the ECB reference rate for the Shanghai date, and no tax adjustment either way. The trading windows behind those choices are laid out on our page on when the silver market opens.

What it means for a buyer in the US

You don't pay the Shanghai price. A dealer in the United States sets its prices from the US market, and the ounces in American and London vaults are what back the futures you see quoted; our page on COMEX silver inventory covers the stocks behind those contracts. The Shanghai gap is a reading of conditions in one large local market. A wide gap tells you metal in China has been worth more, in dollars, than metal elsewhere for a while. It does not set the price on a US invoice.

This page can't tell you where the gap goes next, and it can't tell you why it moved on any single day: tax, licences, local buying and currency swings all act at once, and the official sources we read don't break the effect apart. We also can't tell you whether the benchmark includes VAT, because no primary page we read settles it. What we can give you is the benchmark as published, the conversion in plain sight, and a comparison made in the right order in time. For the US figure on its own, return to the live US price on our front page.

Information, not financial advice. We do not tell you to buy or sell and we do not predict prices. Figures are reference numbers as of the time shown.

Some readers watch Shanghai while deciding whether to hold physical silver in an IRA. The one company this site partners with for that is Augusta Precious Metals; our page on it lists the facts Augusta publishes and the kind of reader it fits.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the Shanghai silver price higher than the US price?

Several things act together. China's VAT Law sets a 13% rate on imported goods, though it does not name silver, and secondary sources disagree on whether quoted premiums include the tax. Secondary reports also point to licensing and local demand. The size of the gap changes every day, as the chart on this page shows.

What is the SGE silver benchmark?

It is the Shanghai Gold Exchange's silver price, contract code SHAG, quoted in yuan per kilogram and backed by 15-kilogram ingots of at least 999.9 fineness. The exchange sets it in a morning and an afternoon session through rounds of bidding, and the afternoon price serves as settlement. This site converts the morning price to dollars.

Can a US buyer purchase silver at the Shanghai price?

Not through a US dealer. American dealers set their prices from the US market, and the Shanghai benchmark is fixed in yuan for silver delivered in China. The premium shows what metal has been worth in China relative to elsewhere; it is a reading of that market, not a price you can pay in the United States.

Sources

Each page we drew a fact from, with whether it was the publisher's own page or a page reporting it.