Platinum group metals are breaking out after three years of range trading; ETFS Securities: PGMs: ready to strike back

Platinum group metals are breaking out after three years of range trading; ETFS Securities: PGMs: ready to strike back? South African strikes and fears of trade sanctions against Russia have recently buoyed platinum and palladium prices, exacerbating what are already expected to be large deficits in 2014. Strikes in South Africa are entering their 13th week, eating into inventory that major global producers (Amplats, Implats and Lonmin) had kept aside for such events and that were initially declared to be sufficient to meet demand for only 6-8 weeks. With over 600,000[i] ounces of platinum and 330,000[ii] ounces of palladium production lost to the strikes so far (equivalent to over 10% and 5% of global mine supply, respectively), Amplats, Implats and Lonmin have declared force majeure on some of their contracts, highlighting the difficulty in getting supplies of the metals to buyers. See palladium chart here: (VIEW LINK)