Chart of the week: platinum loses its shine

Platinum prices have ticked up from a seven-year low in January. But a slowdown in Europe may temper demand, and recycling has added to supplies and helped make up for production declines in South Africa.

811-COTW-platinum-1200

A slowdown in Europe may temper demand for cars with diesel engines, in which platinum is used for catalytic converters.The market is set to be in deficit this year, but above-ground stocks look ample.

High prices in recent years have encouraged recycling of the metal, which has added to supplies and helped make up for production declines in South Africa, the biggest producer. No wonder the latest rally has faded.

Viewpoint

Neil Collins, Financial Times

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Andrew Van Sickle

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

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Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.