I thought this was kind of interesting. Ford, in 2001, fearing that the current $1000/oz palladium price would rise more, decided to increase palladium stockpiles and use huge amounts of money to buy palladium reserves.
= Ford Loved Russian Palladium ;)
The 90s was a decade of profit for Ford. But in 2001 they knew Palladium reserves could be cut off at any time (top palladium production was Russia) so Ford, knowing they couldn't produce cars during a palladium shortage, purchased a large enough palladium stockpile to report losing $1 billion after the palladium price dropped 75% back to normal levels.What's also interesting is that Ford doesn't demand palladium only for its catalytic converters: they can substitute other metals (namely using more platinum and rhodium) and in 2001 actually produced catalytic converters with no palladium! (Related: Use for Palladium article.)
And, 8 years later, as we all know, Ford is is much worse trouble than just losing a measly billion dollars! And, due to the economic woes in 2009, people still aren't buying as many cars, so the car companies don't need as much palladium. What does that tell us? Buy while it's cheap! (See our Free Plan to Create Wealth with Palladium article.)
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