Platinum futures continue to decline, spot market trading remains sluggish [SMM Daily Review]

[SMM Gold & PGM Flash] A new study published in the Journal of Commodity Markets finds that platinum has exhibited broader and more persistent co-movement with inflation and real interest rates than gold. Researchers Arusha Cooray and İbrahim Özmen examined monthly data from July 1999 through December 2024 across the US, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, using turning-point analysis, wavelet coherence and time-varying Granger-causality methods. The study found gold’s macroeconomic relationships were comparatively weaker and more fragmented, while platinum and silver showed broader synchronization, particularly in the US and Germany.​ The researchers attribute platinum’s stronger macroeconomic sensitivity in part to its substantial industrial exposure, meaning its price reflects not only monetary conditions but also manufacturing activity, investment and supply constraints. The findings do not establish platinum as a universally superior inflation hedge: the relationships varied across countries, periods and monetary-policy regimes. Instead, the study highlights a fundamental difference between the metals, with gold’s broader monetary and defensive role producing a different response to inflation and real-rate conditions.

A joint research team from Thailand and China has developed a platinum (Pt) and ruthenium (Ru) co-doped In₂S₃-Ta₂O₅ heterostructure photocatalytic film for degrading organic dye pollutants under visible light. The optimised material demonstrated strong performance in Rhodamine B degradation tests, removing approximately 92.0% of the pollutant within 120 minutes.

A U.S. patent application (Publication No. US20260275453A1) titled "Method for Producing Palladium from Ag Slime" by Korea Zinc was published on September 17. The patent focuses on improving the efficiency of palladium (Pd) recovery from silver slime, a by-product of silver refining. The proposed process involves separating gold through acid dissolution, neutralising the palladium-bearing solution to form palladium oxide-containing precipitate, leaching palladium and platinum (Pt) with hydrochloric acid, followed by chloride precipitation, and ultimately completing the purification and recovery of palladium.