Investment
The US Eagle platinum bullion and numismatic collectable coin.
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Platinum as an investment metal
Platinum is a tangible asset which shares with other precious metal investments the attractive physical properties of being largely unchanging and unchangeable. Like gold and silver, platinum is acceptable as a means of exchange by virtue of its internationally standardized form and purity, and, since it is very dense, it is a compact and readily portable store of wealth.
During the last thirty years a number of different retail investment products have been introduced to meet demand for platinum which can be bought and kept as a repository of value, often for long periods.
Platinum bars and coins
Various refiners in the USA and Europe are or have been producers of small investment bars in platinum up to one kilogram (32.15 troy oz) in weight. Legal tender platinum bullion coins and collectors’ coins have been issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, the Perth Mint and the United States Mint, as well as many other smaller mints. Many of these products are in circulation and can be obtained from coin dealers and distributors.
The public in Japan buys kilogram and smaller platinum ingots produced by the principal Japanese precious metals refiners. Another form of investment in Japan is the accumulation plan, introduced in 1992, which enables investors to buy and accumulate platinum to the value of a regular sum of money paid monthly into their account.
Size of investment demand
Demand for the above forms of physical platinum was at its height in the 1980s, stimulated by a proliferation of new investment products and by concern about the security of supplies of platinum from South Africa, the main producing region, during the period of sanctions against apartheid. In 1988 a total of 630,000 oz of platinum was sold in the form of bars and coins, representing 17 per cent of world platinum demand that year. The popularity of platinum for individual investors has declined over the last decade, with recent sales accounting for less than 2 per cent of annual demand.
Investment demand for platinum since 1980 is estimated in our market data tables.