All That Glitters Is Not Gold: With Surging Demand, Palladium Now As Expensive As The Yellow Metal 

Palladium, a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal used to reduce exhaust emissions from vehicles is has had a bullish season and has reached close to the price of gold due to increased demand, Bloomberg has reported.

On Wednesday (5 November 2018), Palladium’s price rose by 1.7 per cent to a peak of $1,252.68 per ounce, and was at $1,251.88 at 9:09 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg pricing. Spot gold’s price was 0.2 percent lower at $1,236.29.

Demand for the metal from the automotive industry is high (especially in China) with supplies likely to be tight for the foreseeable future. This is reflected by the lease rate of metal according to head of exchange-traded funds at Aberdeen Standard Investments Steve Dunn. Global production of palladium was 211.4 ton in the year 2017.

The rare metal is produced mostly in two countries Russia and South Africa with over 80 per cent of the world production comes as a by-product of nickel smelting in Russia and platinum in South Africa. Being a by-product, it is difficult to meet the demands of the industry as supplies are dependent on quantity of other minerals extracted.