We invest in precious metals mainly because it a hedge against uncertainties, a hedge against the unknown. Gold and Silver had been two of the consensus trade of 2020. Although theses have been grabbing the headlines, there is more to the precious metal market than just silver and gold. Gold and silver are the main precious metals that most people would be aware of, but there are others we should look out as well. Gold and silver mainly jewelry and industrial use but are also heavily involved in investment. Platinum as well is something we should consider. Platinum jewelry makes up about 30% of the global platinum market in any one year. But combines with palladium and rhodium, they make up the main platinum group metals or PGM’s. They are mainly used for industrial applications and primarily as the auto catalyst in vehicle exhaust systems for emission and pollution controls. Platinum is also used in glass, petroleum and chemical manufacturing and is widely used in electronics.
Gold and silver tend to be driven by macro developments, whereas the other precious metals are much more driven by industrial movements and growth within the economy. Often, the amount of demand for PGM’s is actually exceeding supply so there’s often a deficit of these precious metals which drives the price even more higher. In gold we do not have this situation, same for silver. The price is actually driven by macro developments and the actual fundamentals of the market don’t have a great play in terms of the price movements.
