Views: 149 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2021-04-23 Origin: Site
Rhodium prices rose 180% in 2020: Johnson Matthey data
There’s one commodity that’s seen a phenomenal gain in prices this year that may have been missed by some investors: rhodium’s value has climbed by more than 50%, extending a rally that saw prices for the metal nearly triple in 2020.
Traders haven’t paid more attention to rhodium’s phenomenal rise because it isn’t traded on the exchanges, says Nick Jonson, senior editor, markets, at S&P Global Platts. “It has less visibility for most trading houses and banks.”
Rhodium is known as the rarest of the PGMs and is mostly used in emission-controlling automobile catalytic converters, but also as an electrical contact material and as a catalyst in making nitric acid. Spot prices for the metal touched a record high on March 23 at $29,800 an ounce, based on data from John Matthey. It gained around 180% last year.
Peter Thomas, senior vice president at Zaner Precious Metals, attributes the metal’s rally to processing challenges, including its high melting point of 3,567 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as strong demand that has outpaced supplies.
In China, Europe, India and other places, vehicle emission standards are becoming stricter, requiring more rhodium in catalytic converters to control greenhouse gas emissions. In view of the improvement of global emission standards, rhodium, as one of the three noble metals in automotive catalytic converters, is a key component of automatic catalysts for gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. Its price changes have always affected the attention of the entire automotive industry.
Many industry experts have always believed that there is still room for precious metal prices to rise this year.Thomas of Zaner Precious Metals believes that the climb to $30,000 by the end of the year is a "real possibility", and if the infrastructure bill is passed in the United States, the price will be higher. Therefore, as the price of precious metals continues to rise, the overall prices of various related products are also rising, and they will continue to rise in the future.
TIPS:
The small partners of the marketing center have frequently complained about the production center recently, why the price of the products has been changing, which has caused confusion to customers. Hereby release a news update to explain a little!
BUT:
The companions of the special customer service team don't have this kind of confusion. Why? Because they serve "planned customers."
Every year from March to April is the day for major brands to intensively purchase. The catalytic converter plant of the GRWA Group will formulate a total production plan for the first half of the next year at the end of the year, and reserve materials in advance to ensure a stable basic price.Affected by the increase in the price of precious metals, the prices of products on sale have increased slightly, but they have also been supplied to cooperative customers at prices far lower than the overall market. Of course, this price will gradually become less friendly as the stock of raw materials is consumed.
SO:
If you have a demand for Catalytic converters, it is always right to stock up on a batch of goods during the peak production/purchasing season! Otherwise, waiting for these orders to pass, the factory purchases new raw materials, and as the total price of precious metals rises, your profit margin may be squeezed by other first-hand brands in the same market.