Although it is well-known that Gold is the world’s most popular precious metal, palladium has been soaring in value. This precious metal’s prices have been climbing on the global commodities markets, making it perhaps even more precious than gold. As a matter of fact, palladium continues to grow in value and has jumped more than 25% in the last two weeks. 

What is Palladium?

Palladium is one of the world’s top most popular precious metals, along with gold, silver, rhodium, platinum, and more. Out of these precious metals, Palladium is the second most expensive on the list. The rare and lustrous metal has a stunning silvery-white colour. The metal itself was originally discovered in 1803 by an English chemist named William Hyde Wollaston. Palladium has some similar qualities to other popular metals as it’s in the same group as platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, and more. Russia and South Africa produce most of the world’s palladium. Palladium is a very diverse metal and is used for several different purposes aside from bullion. It is most commonly used in jewellery and car parts such as catalytic reactions. 

Why are Palladium prices rising?

Precious metals typically rise in value when their demand outweighs their supply. This is exactly the case with palladium in the past couple of years. For the previous eight years, palladium production has been way below the global demand. Statistically, the platinum group of metals, which includes palladium, fell by 13.5% in November in comparison to the previous year. This is alarming as South Africa produces approximately 40% of the world’s palladium supply. 

Aside from its rarity and value as a metal, the demand for palladium has been increasing for its other uses as well. Palladium, along with platinum, is typically used in catalytic converters which are known to help tackle air pollution from petrol vehicles. Rather than using diesel cars which use more platinum, more and more people are opting for petrol vehicles which use more palladium in their catalytic converters. 

With the demand for palladium continuing to grow in demand, it is predicted that the metal will continue to soar in the near future. 

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