CHINA August 19 2015 7:16 PM

SHANGHAI (Scrap Register): Car sales have been weaker lately in a number of nations, although this is likely already factored into palladium prices that are much lower than earlier in the year, said Mitsubishi in a research note.

Last week, a report showed car sales in China fell 6.6% year-on-year in July. China’s car sales fell for a second straight month in July, the first time this has happened since the global economic crisis of 2008-09, Mitsubishi added.

While this bodes ill for palladium offtake, Mitsubishi views the news as being largely already in the palladium price.

Falling car sales so far this year in a host of other important gasoline markets, including Brazil, Indonesia and Russia, have already dampened the earlier exuberance on palladium offtake, and in any case manufacturers have bought forward for forthcoming production runs, Mitsubishi continued.

Auto demand is the single largest industrial use for palladium, with the metal used in catalytic converters.