Bullion banks get FT's help in trying to talk silver down

``Bankers said at least five miners had hedged a portion of their silver output in recent months, either by selling future production ahead of time at a fixed price or by buying options to protect against falling prices. This has helped push the market into "backwardation" -- an unusual condition for silver in which the price for future delivery is lower than for immediate delivery... "Gold and silver's slide in January may have spooked some producers," said Edel Tully, precious metals strategist at UBS. "When you put it in the context of silver's massive rise last year it is not surprising some producers are locking in price gains."''