Platinum Group Metals Markets: 2018 Issues and Opportunities - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Platinum Group Metals: Issues and Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Platinum Group Metals: Issues and Opportunities, a new market study that surveys current market conditions in platinum group metals (PGMs), and analyzes emerging demand, supply constraints, and price volatility. The report also explores opportunities generated by new techniques of PGM recovery from previously-unused resources, and opportunities created by the development of new, much less costly substitutes.

The report separates hype from reality and assesses the dramatically changing landscape facing PGM users and suppliers. Forecasts are supplied for demand and prices under current conditions going out to 2022, as well as an analysis of the effects of new technologies for PGM replacement and recovery.

Background on Platinum:

Prices of PGMs are high and notoriously volatile. Rhodium, for example, went from slightly over $6,000 per ounce in mid-2007, to $10,000 per ounce in mid-2008 and then crashed to a little above $1,000 before the end of that year. While this degree of fluctuation is exceptional, it's emblematic of the behavior of critical materials in limited supply, tied to broader economic forces like auto sales.

At this time of growing markets, the limits of supply are becoming clear. Like most natural resources, PGM supplies are inherently limited. Concerns about peak metals, the idea that availability has peaked for limited resources and future production will be reduced and/or more costly (which has already occurred for a number of important minerals), will soon be an important influence with PGMs. Already, palladium has entered a period of supply uncertainty and political destabilization.

Tightening of supplies comes at a time of accelerating demand. The growth of auto sales and industrialization in the developing world, particularly Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries), as well as interest in PGM jewelry and investment by newly-prosperous populations, will place significant stress on available supplies. In addition, tightening environmental restrictions worldwide are forcing the use of more PGMs per vehicle to meet emissions rules.

The confluence of growing demand, limited and/or dwindling supplies, and growing availability of alternatives and new supplies will likely create a period of extraordinary volatility before things stabilize. Most of the time during the forecast period will witness the transition of established PGM markets as prices rise and users adjust to new conditions, while others take advantage of the new opportunities presented.

Understand the Opportunities:

Platinum group metals are at an extraordinary intersection of market forces. Their rarity and expense have largely confined them to a limited set of markets. Those markets, in turn, are largely dependent on PGMs simply because there have been no viable, and cheaper, alternatives. The inelasticity of supply has led to occasionally extreme volatility in the past.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary: Platinum Group Metals

Part 1 History & Background

1.1 Introduction

1.2 The Elements

1.2.1 Platinum

1.2.2 Palladium

1.2.3 Rhodium

1.2.4 Iridium

1.2.5 Ruthenium

1.2.6 Osmium

1.3 Sourcing

1.3.1 Extraction

1.3.2 Major Producers

Part 2 Applications

2.1 Electronic components

2.2 Medical & Dental

2.3 Industrial and Scientific

2.3.1 General Industrial

2.3.2 Glass Manufacture

2.3.3 Scientific

2.4 Automotive: Catalytic Converters, Spark Plugs and Sensors

2.5 Jewelry

2.6 Investment and Coinage

2.7 Catalysts

2.7.1 Catalysts: Industrial

2.7.2 Catalysts: Petroleum and Petrochemicals

2.7.3 Catalysts: Automotive

2.7.4 Catalysts: Fuel Cells

Part 3 The Supply Side: Pgm Supplies, Peak Materials and Scarcity

3.1 Today's PGM Sources

3.2 Peak Metals & Scarcity

3.3 Response to Shortages

3.4 Lessons from the 1970s Cobalt Crisis

3.5 Political Issues

3.6 Today's Price/Supply Threats

3.7 The Case of Palladium

Part 4. The Demand Side: Market Growth and Price Trends

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Automotive Demand Driver

4.2.1 The Automotive Market Today

4.2.2 Electric Vehicles and Their Impact

4.2.3 Outlook for the Future

4.3 The Jewelry and Investment Demand Drivers

4.4 The Petroleum Demand Driver

4.5 Industrial: Chemical, Electrical, Electrochemical and Glass Demand Drivers

4.6 Medical, Biomedical and Dental Demand Drivers

4.7 Other Market Drivers

4.8 PGM Demand by Element

4.8.1 Platinum

4.8.2 Palladium

4.8.3 Rhodium

4.8.4 Iridium, Ruthenium and Osmium

4.9 Effects of Alternative Energy Schemes and the Hydrogen Economy

Part 5. Price Trends

5.1 Introduction and Methodology

5.2 Influences on Near-Term PGM Price

5.3 Trends Up To Today

5.4 Platinum

5.5 Palladium

5.6 Rhodium

5.7 The Investment Picture

5.3 Projected Price Trends

Part 6. PGM Replacement

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Precious Metals as Alternatives and Reduced PGM-Schemes

6.2.1 Precious Metal-Based Substitutes in Autocatalysts

6.2.2 Jewelry

6.3 PGM-Free and Reduced PGM Autocatalysts

6.3.1 Alternatives Based on Conventional Chemistry

6.3.2 Alternatives Based on Nanotechnology

6.4 Electrolysis and Fuel Cell Catalyst Alternatives

6.4.1 Research Progress

6.4.2 Nanotechnology: Catalysts Based on Nanoparticles and Nanotubes

6.5 Impact of Alternatives on PGM Demand and Price

6.5.1 Effects of Platinum Alternatives

6.5.2 Effects of Palladium Alternatives

6.5.3 Effects of Rhodium Alternatives

6.5.4 Effects of Alternatives in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Catalysis

Part 7. Opportunities in Recycling and Recovery

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Scrap & Recycling

7.2.1 Electronics and Electrochemistry Scrap

7.2.2 Automotive Scrap

7.2.3 Market Opportunities in PGM Recycling

Electrical, Glass & Other

7.3 Slag and Mine Waste

7.4 Effect of Improved Recycling and Slag Recovery on PGM Prices

7.5 Long-Term Supply Solutions: Near-Earth Asteroid Mining

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nthc58/platinum_group?w=4

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181113005944/en/