The biggest retailer of bullion in Japan has revealed today (21st January) that it handled a record volume of platinum in 2008, Reuters reports.

Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo claims that it experienced an all-time sales high in October as investors rushed to buy the precious metal against the backdrop of a deepening financial crisis.

Furthermore, the company noted that it managed to increase its yearly platinum sales by 2.7 times - also up a significant 526 per cent from 2007 - while its purchases were up by 149 per cent from 2007.

An official told the news provider: "Investors are realising the value of physical assets - which, unlike paper assets will not disappear - and reassessing the metals for investment."

Tanaka also revealed that it managed to post higher sales than purchases for every month since last July and recorded three times more for the year in full.

The results were boosted by the fact that the platinum price increased to 7,589 yen per gram in March, a figure which was the highest seen since the company began its sales operations over 30 years ago.

Source:

Tanaka Kikinzoku handled record platinum in 2008 (21/01/09)
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