(Kitco, Mon. Sep. 9th, 2019) – The WPIC (World Platinum Investment Council) added that after the strong first-half performance of Platinum this year , they see investment demand rising to 900,000 ounces for the year.

In an interview with Kitco News, Trevor Raymond, director of research for the investment council said that investors are jumping into the platinum market in anticipation of a shift in the metal’s supply and demand dynamics.

“The view that these investors are taking is that there will ultimately be more demand from the automotive sector and supply looks to shrink,” he said. “For a lot of investors it just looks like everything is pointing in the right direction for platinum.”

Raymond noted that platinum supply has been declining since 2006 and the situation is now becoming critical in South Africa. He added that next year, supply is expected to hit 2018 levels.

“Even with platinum prices moving higher, even if South African producers wanted to produce more it would take them three to four years to do anything material,” he said.

Looking forward, automotive demand remains the key factor to drive higher investment demand. Because of critical palladium supplies, Raymond said that the WPIC suspects that some automotive companies are already substituting palladium for platinum. He added that it is only a matter of time before this demand shows up in the marketplace.

Raymond added that platinum demand is not completely dependent on total vehicle sales. What is more important is how much metal is going into each catalytic converter. Because of strict emission standards auto companies are heavily loading their converts with platinum and palladium.

“Companies are not going to take any chances when it comes to meeting these new emission standards and we see loadings increase by 30%,” he said. “There is a lot more awareness of climate change and emission standards are only going to tighten, which means companies will need to use even more metal.”

Looking ahead, because of favorable market conditions, Raymond said that the WPIC expects that platinum and palladium will see price parity in the next few years.

Gold, silver prices up on chart-based buying

Gold and silver prices are modestly higher in early U.S. trading Monday, despite upbeat trader and investor risk appetite to start the trading week. The technicals in both metals remain fully bullish, which continues to attract speculator buying interest. December gold futureswere last up $4.10 an ounce at 1,519.70. December Comex silver prices were last up $0.181 at $18.30 an ounce.

Asian and European stock markets were mostly higher overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward higher openings when the New York day session begins. Trader and investor risk appetite remains elevated. News Friday that China’s central bank eased its monetary policy and reports over the weekend that the U.K. appears to be avoiding, for now, a “hard Brexit,” have most of the world marketplace in an upbeat mood.

There was a Dow Jones Newswires report over the weekend that said China’s official economic numbers are probably not accurate and likely are overly hyped by the government. The report said China’s overall economic growth (gross domestic product) is probably about half of what the official numbers say, or actually around 3%, annual growth. This news is not surprising to many market watchers.

Posted By :

Jack Dempsey, President

401 Gold Consultants LLC

jdemp2003@gmail.com