Platinum Demand Likely to Outpace Supply

Between 2010 and 2016, Platinum Production May be Flat or Decline

Jan 12, 2010 George Daleiden

as summarised from his article,

main uses of platinum

- jewellery

-autocatalysts [automotive catalytic converters in cars, vehicles; gasoline and diesel engines]

nature of platinum

1. beauty, hardness, strength, durability, luster 

2.resistant to oxidation and corrosion, does not tarnish

3. excellent conductor of electricity

4. powerful properties as a catalyst in many industrial applications

Supply

75% to 80% of all refined platinum comes from South Africa.
--> pdtn declined over the past 3 yrs.
--> due to caused by mine closures and cutbacks on capital expenditure.

business of platinum production and refining is an extremely difficult, capital-intensive one, with inherent high barriers to entry. The extraction (mining) stage involves laborious hand drilling, followed by concentration and refining of the metal, complex processes that may take up to six months. A new platinum mine takes seven years to conceive, build and get up and running.

Demand

Use of platinum in jewelry peaked in 1999 - 2000, when over 50% of all platinum demand was dedicated to that use. By 2005, that figure had dropped to 40%, and in 2010, jewelry use is projected to account for only 20% of demand.

Other uses for platinum include electrical-electronics (6% of total demand), glass products (5%), chemicals (5%), petroleum (3%), other uses such as medical-dental, spark plugs and fuel cells (7%). Demand by precious metals investors and speculators is modest but growing.

prices of platinum
The current price of platinum, and other precious metals which are traded on public futures exchanges, are available.

close substitutes
*There are six Platinum Group Metals, or PGMs: platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium. They are all rare, expensive, have similar physical and chemical properties, are clustered in the periodic table and tend to commingle in natural ores.


with credits to the writer's site.

read more on the related metals: palladium 

these metals belong to a more general category of metal commodities market.[related to trading etc] We have learnt that there are 4 basic types of resources, land, labour, capital and entrepreneurs. However, in the real world, resources can also be classified as basic raw materials such as precious metals or energy sources such as oil and gas. 

what are commodities? 

check out the commodity prices at CNNMoney.