A spokesperson at leading platinum refiner Johnson Matthey claimed yesterday (10th February) that demand for ruthenium looks set to suffer further in the year ahead, Reuters reports.

The price of the metal - which is mainly used in the electronics sector for the manufacturing of hard disks - has declined by 70 per cent in the past three months.

A slumping economy and rise in recycling have both played a part and Dr David Jollie, the author of the company's pgm publications, explained that the trend is set to continue.

"The general trend over the last year has been downwards because of the supply-demand balance," he told the news provider.

"We saw the same trend pretty much throughout the whole of last year and through to now, which is for really weak industrial demand."

Dr Jollie explained that the amount of ruthenium used per hard disk has fallen, despite the fact that the market share of perpendicular magnetic recording technology has increased fairly quickly.

And while the price hit record levels of $880 per oz in May 2007 on the back of a build-up of stocks in the hard disk industry, he noted that this has since been tempered by an increase in recycling.

In addition, ruthenium has been affected on the supply side by the problems experienced in South African mines as a result of the power crisis suffered last year by state power utility Eskom.

However, the expert expressed his belief that the white metal may see a rise in demand over the longer term as new users are attracted by lower prices, while he also expects production to remain steady this year.

"Anglo Platinum said this year it is planning to produce a similar amount of platinum, so we would expect a similar amount of ruthenium," he added in the Reuters interview.

Source:

INTERVIEW-Ruthenium demand suffers as recycling grows (10/02/09
http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringAutoNews/idUKLA50802520090210?sp=true