Prices for the precious metal palladium have hit a 16-year high at just under $900 per troy ounce, up 90% from January 2016. Low oil prices have seen a surge in demand for fossil-fuel vehicles in US and China. While the UK and Switzerland had large reserves of palladium, output from Russia, which produces almost half the world's supply, is expected to drop by 3%. The price of gold has risen sharply since mid-2016, when it was trading around $1,300 an ounce.
Prices for the precious metal palladium have hit a 16-year high at just under $900 per troy ounce, up 90% from January 2016. Low oil prices have seen a surge in demand for fossil-fuel vehicles in US and China. While the UK and Switzerland had large reserves of palladium, output from Russia, which produces almost half the world's supply, is expected to drop by 3%. International demand for palladium, a component of catalytic converters in cars, is predicted to exceed supply by 24.4 tons this year.