There is an ever growing demand for platinum pushing the current prices to over $2000 per ounce, almost double the price of gold. It doesn’t stop there, though. As long as power shortages in South Africa (which provides 80% of the world’s platinum) do not have too big of an effect on mining, prices are expected to go even higher.
Companies involved in automotive manufacturing and precious metals buy most of the world’s platinum. Automotive companies mainly use it for catalytic converters as deemed by the government. It does not look like their needs for the metal are going to go down any time soon, either.
The line between supply and demand of platinum is razor thin, another reason why prices are so high. If all mining stopped today, there would be only enough to go around for approximately one year.
Companies are looking to expand by pulling platinum and platinum like metals from near-Earth asteroids to offset some of the shortage. Of course, this is not something that will be a possibility for another 20 years or so. However, during that time, there could be a sharp decrease in prices even as the demand continues to go up.
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