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Palladium catches fire By: Daniel Thole Posted: 2004/01/26 Mon 18:03 ZE2 | Mineweb 1997-2004 JOHANNESBURG Palladium has made strong gains over the last week as speculative demand has returned to the small, illiquid market, powering it to faster gains than its sister metal, platinum. The metal had been languishing under $200/oz for much of last year, following a massive slide from the $1100/oz level as 2001 started. But in the last few weeks palladium has outpaced platinum - which seems to have leveled out around the $860/oz level trading up to $235/oz after gaining 13 percent during Thursday and Friday trade. Ray Nessim, the chief executive of US precious-metals retailer Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, speculated that industrial demand for the metal outside of the dominant autocatalyst application may increase demand for palladium this year. Most of the current focus of the palladium industry is to find new industrial uses for the metal, Nessim said. He said palladium was being increasingly used for dental equipment, watch-making and surgical instruments, and the momentum for a switch back into palladium by automakers who cannot handle higher platinum prices may be imminent. Palladium is now one-quarter the price of platinum after being twice as expensive as its sister metal two years ago. Peter Ryan, a platinum-group-metals analyst at minerals consultancy GFMS, said it was likely that autocatalyst demand would be the driver for the palladium price this year, and not the smaller industrial categories, such as dental and electrical demand. He said it was possible that the price was running in expectation of a switch back to palladium by major automakers, although there was no real fundamental support for such a move. Ryan said Russia, the largest producer of palladium, was due to release information on its production and stockpiles of the metal for the first time this year. Any information the market received on the state of Russias palladium will be positive for the market, we had no clarity before, he said. Russia delivered just under half of the worlds 6,3-m ounces of palladium in 2003, but Ryan said the market had its own data on Russias influence on the palladium market, and the data that was released would be unlikely to have any major effect on the palladium price. Russia will not be a shock to the market, not a total surprise people in the market know where the Russians are, Ryan said. However, Ryan said that at least one major US auto manufacturer was known to have built up massive stockpiles of the metal when the price was at higher levels, and it was these massive inventories that were keeping the price subdued. PGM refiner Johnson Matthey estimated that total palladium demand recahed 5,7-m ounces in 2003, while supply reached 6,3-m ounces. Autocatalyst demand accounted for 59 percent of total demand for the metal, with electrical demand the second-largest component of demand at 17 percent. Dental demand made up 14 percent of demand, and jewellery and chemical demand made up 4 percent each. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | palladium |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | ulfur (26.01.04 20:29:50) |
| Beitrag: | 17 von 18 (ID:11966281) |
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