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The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has released gold price forecasts for 2020. Every year, the organization collects forecasts from analysts from a wide array of institutions for a contest to see whose forecast ends up being the closest.

Bullish gold price forecasts for 2020

The consensus is looking for double-digit increases in the gold price in 2020, although analysts are also predicting a large amount of volatility in the yellow metal this year. The gap between the lowest price and the highest range is much wider than it was for last year’s forecasts.

January has already brought sizable increases in the gold price for 2020, but analysts are mostly expecting it to remain roughly flat with only a gain of 0.3% the rest of the year. The average gold price forecast for 2020 is $1,558.90, while the highest high is forecast at $2,080, and the lowest low is estimated at $1,300.

The range between the high and low prices is $780, demonstrating the greater volatility that’s expected this year. Last year’s range between the high and low prices was only $325.

Bulls versus bears

Independent analyst Ross Norman is the most bullish of all the analysts who turned in their gold price forecasts for 2020 to the LBMA. He set his low price at $1,520 an ounce, his high price at $2,080, and his average price at $1,755.

The most bearish gold price forecast for 2020 comes from Bernard Dahdah of Natixis. He set his low price at $1,300 and his high price at $1,450. His average price stands at $1,398 an ounce.

In 2019, gold prices ended up averaging $1,392.60 an ounce, so this year’s estimated $1,558.80 represents an increase of almost 12% from last year’s average. In the first half of January, gold prices were already averaging $1,554.20 an ounce.

Other precious metal forecasts

The LBMA also collects price forecasts for silver, platinum and palladium from analysts. The average estimate for 2020 is $18.21, while the highest high is set at $23.15, and the lowest low is estimated at $15.10 per ounce. At $18.21, the silver price would be up 12.4% from last year’s average price and up only 0.7% from the average price in the first two weeks of January.

Analysts predict that platinum will be the best-performing of the four metals this year. The average analyst forecast is at $1,005.10, while the highest high is at $1,350, and the lowest low is at $775. The average estimate for this year is 16.5% higher than last year’s average price and a 3.2% increase from the average price in the first two weeks of the year.

Analysts are predicting an average price of $2,116 for palladium this year, with the highest high set at $3,200 and the lowest low at $1,500. The metal has been soaring past record highs and already broken the highs forecast by many analysts for this year.