Global demand for palladium recovered last year to equal its record 1984 level of 2.96 million oz, Johnson Matthey reports in its publication Platinum 1987.
Supply, however, ran ahead of demand for the metal. The company reports Soviet exports of palladium to non-communist nations jumped 15% last year. Also, South Africa and Canada recorded small increases in shipments.
On the consumption side, the electronics sector in Japan helped spur demand for the metal last year. The company estimates Japan’s electrical/electronics sector accounted for 25% of total western world consumption.
Use of palladium in dentistry maintained steady growth last year, but the metal lost ground in the autocatalyst (emission control system) sectors in Japan and the United States and in the jewelry sector.
Johnson Matthey estimates the automotive sector accounted for 68% of the total western world demand for rhodium in 1986, a year of tight supply-demand balance for the metal. Rhodium is used by the automobile industry in the manufacture of the platinum: rhodium 3-way autocatalyst.
Demand for ruthenium increased by about 10% last year but didn’t threaten supply. The metal has application in the electronics sector and the chloralkali industry, and in a number of other fields.
Total demand for iridium in 1986 is estimated at 33,000 oz, up about 20%, with supplies remaining adequate during the year. The metal has use in a wide range of industrial applications.
A small market exists for osmium; Johnson Matthey reports that during the past two years only about 11,000 oz of the metal were imported into the U.S. Osmium is used in alloys.
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