RE: The sale changes Jubilees entire risk profile10 Aug 2025 09:28
"In July this year, Chinese glassmakers suddenly resumed their demand for rhodium, after having completely eliminated its use in fibre-glass bushings by mid-2024 due to the price of rhodium reaching ~$30,000/oz in 2021, opting instead to use only platinum. As a result, bushing lifespan fell to a third of what it was with 15% rhodium content (rhodium gave the bushing alloy tremendous durability), leading to higher platinum costs to replace the metal lost during fibre glass production. This forced mainly Chinese companies, and other companies too, to return to using some rhodium to restore durability and profitability to their businesses. We have therefore increased our price forecasts for rhodium to account for this returned demand.
Demand for ruthenium has also increased significantly in the last 12 months as it is used in AI HDD cloud data storage. AI produces massive amounts of data and ruthenium and platinum are used in the most reliable data storage method, perpendicular magnetic recording. This has led to the price of ruthenium increasing to $820/oz from $360/oz in September 2024. With the continuing momentum in AI adoption and accompanying data needs rising, we have increased our prices significantly from previous forecasts.
Battery electric vehicle demand has slowed significantly and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (hybrids) demand has risen sharply in the last two years. Hybrid sales are rising at double-digit rates and could continue to do so for some time. Hybrids have internal combustion engines (ICEs) with 1.5-litre capacity, using the same amount of PGM that a normal ICE vehicle would use. We have increased our palladium price forecasts as demand increases for these engines, especially the gasoline type, which is popular in Chinese hybrids, and with China 7 regulations due to be implemented at end-2027 and Euro 7 regulations at end-2026."