Compared to the gold and silver market, the platinum market shows a lot of tightness between the demand and supply conditions. For instance, if the market were to suddenly experience a higher demand for platinum, there would not be enough platinum to satisfy this demand. With the ever-increasing industrial uses of platinum, this leads to the rise in the price of platinum per ounce.
Apart from industrial demand, the price of platinum per ounce also rose due to the demand from the jewelry market and especially the bridal category, which uses platinum for wedding rings and bands. The price has also been affected due to the weakening of the dollar and the depression in the economy. Additionally, there have been some production problems in South Africa, which has led to a reduction in the production of platinum.
Improvement of security and safety measures have resulted in many of the shafts going for repair and lowered the production of platinum in the world. An expansion in the production is quite difficult, as it is rare to come by skilled laborers and workers for the mining. There has also been a shortage of electricity supplied to the mines and hence they have not been able to supply the requisite amount of platinum, resulting in the rise in the price of platinum per oz.
The high price of platinum per ounce has been a result of all these factors. What was a market of surplus suddenly shifted into one of deficit. The jewelry industry is expecting a problem due to this shortage. But there are also other fields where platinum is playing a major role, such as the automobile industry as also the medical and the health industry.
The price of platinum per oz is also increasing due to the use in catalytic converters which has been made compulsory due to the clean air legislation. They help reduce the harmful emissions from the petroleum powered engines, especially in case of diesel engines. Thus, due to the myriad uses of platinum in these and other industries, the price of platinum per ounce is bound to rise.
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