Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Platinum prices 'set to rise 50%' (Innumerate Edition)

These numbers from the BBC look odd. Platinum was trading at $2131 last I saw :

The price of platinum could increase by 50% in 2008, according to a poll of analysts by the Reuters news agency.

Prices are pushed higher by production problems in South Africa and a rise in demand for catalytic converters using the metal to filter fumes.

The poll sees the median price of platinum at $2,000 an ounce in 2008 and $2,100 in 2009. It was $1,304 in 2007.

Anglo American, which produces 40% of world platinum output, has been hit by power cuts and strikes.

New record?

"The structural problems with power supply [in South Africa] are not being resolved in the short run," said Peter Fertig, a consultant at Dresdner Kleinwort....MORE