TELEGRAPH Today20 Apr 2021 21:35
Palladium on a roll
Tired of gold? The smart money might be on palladium, which has hit a record high as carmaker demand and supply disruptions look set to keep the market in a deep deficit.
The metal has climbed 16pc in 2021, building on five years of gains. Palladium has been in heavy demand for use in catalytic converters in petrol cars. Supply disruptions at Russian mines run by MMC Norilsk Nickel, the world’s number one producer, have exacerbated the shortfall, Bloomberg reports.
“A series of positive supply and demand factors have been driving up prices,” said Philip Klapwijk, managing director of Hong Kong-based consultant Precious Metals Insights. “That at the margin will also have sucked in some speculative trend-following money. Also, more generally, palladium had been rangebound for a while until mid-March and the 'catalyst' of Russian supply disruption.”