Recent car sales data from China supportive for Palladium

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): The most recent auto-sales data from China bode well for palladium demand, said Mitsubishi in a snippet.
The strongest-performing precious metal of 2017 has been rising again lately after a downward correction that took it to a one-month low last week. 
Chinese car sales recovered in June by 2.3% to 1.83 million units, meaning that China sold 11.25 million new cars in the first half of the year, a 1.6% year-over-year rise, Mitsubishi pointed out. 
The metal is used for catalytic converters. This decent growth in the world’s largest car market should continue to drive demand for palladium in gasoline emissions control and underpin the positive market outlook in the remainder of the year, Mitsubishi added.
Tight industrial fundamentals combined with speculative investor activity have been the main reasons for palladium’s out-performance this year and it reaching a 16-year high of $928 last month. 
The scramble for metal for immediate delivery among investors and industrial users alike has also driven the forward market into a steep backwardation which, although now easing, continues to prevail.