How do the Russian stockpiles affect the palladium market?
There has been considerable speculation about the current holdings of the Russian government’s stockpiles that were accumulated in the 1970’s and 1980’s. While this remains to be a state secret, in the Summer and Fall of 2010, a number of public statements were made by credible forecasters indicating that the state stock have declined to relatively low levels and will not be a decisive factor in the palladium market going forward. If that proves to be true, based on Johnson Matthey’s data, without the Russian stockpiles the market would have been in a deficit of almost 1 million ounces in 2010.
