The United States Mint was unable to meet surging demand for its gold and silver bullion coins in 2020 and through January, due partly to pandemic-driven demand and plant capacity issues, it said. Sales of US gold bullion coins rose 258% last year while silver coin demand was up 28%, the Mint said on Tuesday. Heavy buying has continued in 2021, it said, squeezing supplies, which had already been tight as the coronavirus affected production. A social media-driven buying spree lifted silver futures to an eight-year high on Monday, but dealers in the market for coins were already grappling with a supply shortage and shipping delays before that rally. It came as treasury secretary Janet Yellen announced she would be calling a meeting of key financial regulators this week to discuss market volatility driven by retail trading in GameStop and other stocks. Yellen will convene heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a Treasury official said on Tuesday. Shares in the struggling retail chain fell 60% on Wall Street on Tuesday to $90 as the mania sparked by small investors that had sent its value soaring past $300 a share last week looked like imploding. The Mint, a division of the US Treasury, had limited distribution of its silver coins to suppliers as it is currently changing the designs for its American Eagle Gold and Silver Bullion Coins. “There was going to be a backlog in the silver bullion supply chain that rendered Silver Eagles more scarce either way,” said Everett Millman at Gainesville Coins in Florida. He expected delays until mid-March for the most popular products. “The silver coins and silver bars that are available have acquired significantly higher premia,” he added. In January, 220,500 American Eagle gold bullion coins were sold, up 290% from 56,500 a year earlier, the Mint said. For this year, the Mint has a limited window to produce its current gold and silver coins, with redesigned coins expected to debut in the summer. It is limiting distribution of its gold, silver and platinum coins to specific dealers because of heavy demand, and a limited number of suppliers of metals, it said in a statement. The silver rally in recent days is just the latest attempt by some traders to persuade more investors to buy up physical silver coins. They believe that large banks are manipulating the price of silver and that buying up physical silver will force a shortage and push up the price. The spot price of silver futures rose 3% in early trade on Wednesday to $27.195 an ounce, almost $3 short of its high on Monday.