Meine Meinung ist das nicht.
Platin ist mittlerweile "Geld-Metall", da kann die industrielle
Verwendung ruhig etwas zurückgehen.
aus BUSINESS-DAY vom 06.12.05
Palladium catalysts may kill platinum price rally
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London - A four-year rally that enabled platinum to more than double in price may be over now that car makers are switching to less costly palladium.
Platinum may fall as much as 11 percent to $890 an ounce in the first half of next year, according to Johnson Matthey, the world's largest distributor of the metal.
General Motors, the world's biggest car maker by sales, designed its exhaust systems to substitute palladium for platinum "when one metal gets too expensive", said spokesperson Tom Hill.
Norilsk Nickel of Russia, the world's largest palladium producer, said demand for the cheaper alternative might rise 63 percent next year as jewellers increased use at the expense of platinum.
Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach, the head of marketing and sales at precious metals company Heraeus Holding, last month said: "We expect a substantial drop in demand as palladium gets substituted for platinum.
"There isn't much demand from industrial buyers at these levels."
Platinum fixed at $998 (R6 356) an ounce yesterday afternoon in London after rising to $1 008 earlier in the day, its best price since March 1980.
Platinum and palladium, which are mined in South Africa and Russia, are used in catalytic converters, which help reduce emissions from automotive exhausts. Platinum is also used in computer screens and jewellery. About 57 percent of platinum demand stems from makers of car catalysts, while jewellery producers account for 30 percent, according to Johnson Matthey.
Umicore, the world's third-largest maker of catalytic converters, this year introduced a system for diesel cars that uses a catalyst made with both platinum and palladium.
"Palladium prices are very low compared with platinum," Umicore spokesperson Geoffroy Raskin said last week.
"If you replace platinum with palladium, you get a much more cost-effective catalyst. It also offers car makers more flexibility because they can choose between the two in the future."
The technology allowed Umicore to replace as much as 25 percent of platinum with palladium, Raskin said.
Platinum prices may also come under pressure as car makers produce more hybrid cars, which run on a petrol-electric motor.
"We view hybrids as a threat to platinum group metals demand," Robin Bahr, a metals analyst with UBS AG in London, said in a report in November.
Output of platinum would fall short of demand this year by 120 000 ounces, Johnson Matthey said last month.
Demand for platinum in jewellery might drop 6 percent to 2.02 million ounces this year as record prices deterred Chinese buyers, according to Johnson Matthey.
Demand for palladium from Chinese jewellers is forecast to rise 71 percent to 1.2 million ounces this year. - Bloomberg
