We publish our renowned PGM Market Report in May each year, providing a current status of the markets. The following guidance will support you in interpreting and using our figures for further analysis.

Supply

Primary supply is the mined (or primary) metal per region that is sold by miners each year. As this term refers to sales, it can differ from mined production; producers can sell PGM from existing inventory or put it into stock.

Secondary supply comprises ‘open-loop’ recycling only - in other words secondary metal supplied to the market each year. Closed loop recycling is not included in our supply figures, as it does not provide new metal to the market; we do not publish closed-loop recycling figures.

Combined primary and secondary supply is the total supply, reflecting all of the metal - placed on the market each year. Because primary and secondary PGM have identical properties, it is not correct to only count primary supplies of PGMs.

Demand 
Net demand is the annual requirement for new metal in each application (once closed-loop recycling has been subtracted). Because this figure is quoted before any open-loop recycling is considered, we refer to it as gross demand.

Demand is an indication of physical use of metal in all automotive, jewellery and industrial applications. It also includes investment in physically backed and identifiable forms, predominantly exchange-traded funds (ETFs, which are backed by physical metal held in a vault), or platinum bars and coins. However, this doesn’t capture all investment in platinum, as we only count measurable physical investment.

Market stocks are the sum of metal held by fabricators, dealers, banks and depositaries around the world. The extent of these stocks is not known or reported with any degree of accuracy.

Working with our figures in the data tables

 

Net demand Recycling (in negative numbers) + demand
Total annual supply Primary supply + Recycling (ignore negative number)
Supply demand balance Primary supply - net demand
OR
Total annual supply – gross demand


The supply-demand balance indicates the total market stocks that must be mobilised to balance the market each year.



If total supplies exceed gross demand in a given year, the market balance is positive, denoting a surplus. The surplus metal quantity is added to total market stocks.

If gross demand exceeds total supplies, the market balance is negative, denoting a deficit. The market stocks are drawn upon to meet the shortfall.