Platinum market surplus to widen in 2018

The platinum market moved into a small surplus in 2017 and is expected to move further into surplus this year, as rising industrial demand is outweighed by a decline in autocatalyst consumption and lower net investment.

Platinum demand fell in 2017 on lower Japanese investment buying, use in China's jewellery industry

Johnson Matthey said its latest PGM market report that 2017's surplus had been caused by a combination of lower total demand, flat mine supply, improved recycling volumes and higher sales from South African producers, offset by lower shipments from Russia and Zimbabwe.