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With auto manufacturers accounting for 50% of annual platinum production, last weeks dismal news from car makers saw spot platinum at Fridays New York close down to $1656.50 an ounce after trading down to $1629 during the session.

General Motors announced a second quarter loss of over $15 billion, BMW issued a profit warning and Nissan fell short of its quarterly forecasts.

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Followers of our weekly review roundups may recall the reservations we wrote of concerning the price of PGMs and platinum in particular. The point we were making was simply that while we were bullish of gold and silver, we had concerns for PGMs in a world where industrial activity was likely to slow.

Today we note that car manufacturers in the US are likely to experience sales declining to a fifteen year low and one major Japanese manufacturer has already announced that it is cutting its 2008 sales target by 350,000 units.

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87% of rhodium mining production in 2006 was used by the automotive industry in catalytic converters.

Platinum, also used as a catalyst in emission converters, can be substituted with palladium, except in diesel engines, whereas the unique properties of rhodium allow for no substitute.

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After the turmoil in the markets over the last two weeks it is interesting to note the price behavior of platinum and to investigate the reasons for it strengths.
 

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Platinum closed $15 down yesterday (21^st Nov) after reaching its highest level in two months in the previous session.

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