You may have seen in the news that the price of palladium has been consistently going up in the last few years, and even more so in recent weeks. We thought this would be a good time to tell you a little more about the metal, why this rise in cost is important and what it means for your jewellery.
6. It is predominantly mined in South Africa and Russia, and is mostly used in the automotive industry, with more than 80& going towards the manufacture of catalytic converters.
7. Umumnya, palladium is mined as a by-product of platinum and nickel which makes it an interesting ethical alternative as no new mining takes place.
8. When the hallmark for palladium was first introduced, it was significantly less expensive than it is now. The price of palladium has skyrocketed by almost 400% since 2016 and is now twice the price of gold and more than twice the the price of platinum. One of the main reasons for this is the increased demand for palladium by the car industry. More and more people are making the switch over to petrol cars which use palladium for the catalytic converters, compared to diesel cars which use platinum. There have been recent cases of cars being stolen to harvest the palladium in their catalytic converters!
9. Palladium is also used in 18ct white gold as one of the metals alloyed with the metal to give it its white colour. The changing price of palladium has had a significant knock on effect on the price of 18ct white gold too.
10. Anyone that has bought a palladium or 18ct white gold ring in the last 15 years or so will find that their insurance value will have gone up significantly, even if the piece is only a year old. Please check that you have an up to date valuation of your jewellery to ensure that you are properly covered should something unfortunate happen to your jewellery.