In 2021, the platinum market remained in fundamental surplus

In 2021, the platinum market not only remained in fundamental surplus for the sixth year in a row, but the size of the supply overhang nearly quadrupled year over year, recyclingtoday.com writes. 
The main drivers included a softer than anticipated recovery in demand and a strong rebound in platinum mine supply. In contrast to 2020 and 2019, investors remained largely hesitant buying into platinum’s story for the most part of the year. As a result, platinum finished 2021 at $962 an ounce, losing 14 percent of its value.
The surplus is expected to expand modestly in 2022 as the same driving forces are likely to remain firmly in place during the first half of 2022, or possibly even longer, before starting to dissipate.
Investors are seen as the only power capable of restoring balance to the market where fabricators, despite their growing appetite for metal, are unable to keep up with the pace at which miners and scrap recyclers are supplying platinum to the market. However, this group of market participants will not maintain or build its positions unless it feels that doing so offers some financial benefit, either in the form of capital gains or capital protection. A chronically oversupplied platinum market is therefore unlikely to generate much physical buying from investors in the short to mid-term but could instead become an attractive target for short sellers adding bearish bets. Platinum prices are forecast to slip further in 2022, averaging $1,086 per pound.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished