India, China to lift global Palladium demand this year

INDIA May 25 2016 9:22 AM

LONDON (Scrap Register): Platinum demand is expected to be stable while China and India are expected to push up global demand for palladium this year, said Citi Research in a report.

Pollution control is expected to be a main driver for short-and long-term prices of the platinum group metals as technology continually evolves to meet standards, the bank said.

The fallout from last year’s Volkswagen emissions testing scandal has spread to other manufacturers and the problem is far from being resolved, Citi added. 

“However, we do not expect ongoing news from this particular event to materially impact platinum prices in the near term,” the bank continued. “Outside of auto-catalyst demand, industrial and jewelry consumption appear robust.” 

Meanwhile, most analysts appeared to have a stronger outlook for palladium, Citi noted. “Metal Focus pointed out that the share of gasoline cars in Europe is rising.” 

Automotive sales data provider LMC expects growth from increased car sales will be gasoline driven, especially since the share of diesel in Europe has fallen to around 39% in 2016 from 60% just 10 years ago, Citi added. 

The bank suggested that China remains a key growth region for increased passenger car sales that are predominantly gasoline-based, rising 8% year-on-year to 23 million cars in 2016.