Friday, January 30, 2009

Precious Metal Prices, Palladium May Rise!

I got an email to my cell phone from an overseas friend telling me that gold is higher than it's ever been. What? What does that mean about the price palladium? I replied telling him that unless gold jumped from $900 yesterday to $1000 today then he's mistaken! It turns out that gold is its highest in a few months, and he got the two confused.

When we see an increase in gold price palladium may or may not follow. Platinum groups metals are more industrial than they are financial. If there are increases in gold and silver prices palladium along with platinum and rhodium may increase as well, simple because they are precious metals. However, gold decreases in a strong economy, whereas palladium increases in a good economy if there is more demand for the PGMs for (mainly) the auto industry.

Future Prices Palladium Increase?

A one ounce palladium rise is not imminent, but it has risen 10% up to nearly $200 an ounce. 1 oz palladium has been around the $170 range for months. Gold's jumped up around 7%, and silver has jumped from $11 up to $13. That's something to be noticed! Silver up 15%! Platinum seems to be moving up just enough to remain ahead of gold. We'll see how that works out.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Palladium Catalytic Converters

In 2007 there were 70 million cars sold new worldwide. However, 2008 didn't bring car makers as much luck, with a decline in auto sales of 16%. In November, compared to November 2007, sales dropped 36%. How long will this recession last? No one knows for sure, but sources point to it lasting until the latter months of 2009.

So what does this mean for palladium? When car sales were still somewhat okay in early 2008, palladium reached a price of $600. However, with decreased demand for new vehicles, there is less need for the car manufacturers to buy palladium--along with platinum and rhodium--to produce catalytic converters.

Not to fear, though. China and Indian have over a billion people each, as compared to just over 300 million in the US. These up and coming countries will continue to increase car production for the years to come. These cars will need catalytic converters, and those catalytic converters will need metal palladium. Palladium one ounce palladium prices will rise eventually.

Palladium Demand Palladium Supply

The world demand for palladium is around 7.2 million ounces. That's at the end of 2008 when car sales are down. The world supply is actually down 12%, but it's still at 7.5 million ounces which is enough to reach demand. Most of this supply comes from mining, but over 1 million ounces come from recycled palladium, such as recycling catalytic converters.

While the world's economy continues to suffer, so will the auto industry, and so will demand for palladium. But the future looks bright. Diesel engines require more palladium and large SUVs which have been popular recently are larger so obviously require more palladium catalyst. China and Indian may help matters. As demand increases, though, that 1 million oz palladium from recycled catalytic converters may increase to 1.5 or even 2 million, who knows.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Palladium Use, Rare PGMs Recycling Today Article

Palladium Price

The following is a good article I found by Curt Harler on Recycling Today Magazine. It's kind of long, but shows what uses the world has for palladium and the other PGMs. It also talks about prices per ounce of palladium and other metals and how 2008 was a roller coaster of a year. Good article. Enjoy!

Palladium: Ready and Waiting,
By Curt Harler, curt@curtharler.com
1/22/2009 10:09:12 AM

Summary

Harler's article begins by discussing how 2008 saw the price of palladium and other PGMs skyrocket; then plummet around 60% from their 2008 highs.

Harler goes on to show what uses palladium, use platinum, and other PGMs throughout the world; and how the car industry effects a lot of things.

There aren't many palladium buy resources, or many sites to learn about palladium, but this article is a must read. And you don't have to pay to download it!


WAIT! Thanks for reading, but you're not done yet! This site has nearly 50 FREE ARTICLES regarding how, why, and where to buy palladium online. To see these simply see the "Blog Archive" atop the right hand column. Here are two favorites: Inflation Adjusted Charts and Fail-Proof Wealth Plan.