Global economic growth helped lift industrial demand for silver last year for the first time since 2013, but it also contributed to a steep drop in investment demand for the metal, according to a report from The Silver Institute released Thursday.

Industrial demand for silver — which has industrial, as well as a precious metal, characteristics — grew by 4% to 599 million ounces in 2017, according to a report produced for The Silver Institute by the GFMS team at Thomson Reuters. That was the first rise in four years for silver industrial fabrication, which makes up about 60% of silver offtake.