PalladiumPA=F
The metal inside every gasoline car's exhaust — critical, scarce, and geopolitically concentrated.
Past week: -0.92%
30-day price
Where the chart sits — description, not prediction
Trading below both its 50-day ($1,424.44) and 200-day ($1,515.34) averages — the longer-term trend reads as down. 30-day range $1,200.90–$1,531.00; currently in the lower third of that range. RSI(14) 39 — momentum weak.
Computed from daily closing prices (Yahoo Finance), June 19, 2026. Compare all markets →
What is Palladium?
Palladium is a lustrous silvery-white metal and a member of the platinum-group metals. It was discovered in 1803 by English chemist William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas, discovered two years earlier.
Roughly 80-85% of palladium demand comes from autocatalytic converters in gasoline vehicles, where it converts harmful exhaust gases into less harmful compounds. Electronics, dentistry, and chemical applications account for most of the remaining demand.
What has moved Palladium
Gasoline-vehicle production
Because nearly all palladium demand is tied to gasoline-engine catalysts, global light-vehicle production and the share powered by internal-combustion engines are the dominant demand drivers. Any slowdown in auto output feeds straight through to palladium consumption.
Russian and South African supply
Russia, mainly through Norilsk Nickel, supplies roughly 40% of mined palladium, with South Africa providing most of the balance. Disruptions, sanctions, or geopolitical tensions involving Russia can have an immediate effect on the palladium balance.
The electric-vehicle transition
Battery electric vehicles use no catalytic converter and therefore no palladium. As the global fleet gradually electrifies, this is a structural long-term demand headwind that sets palladium apart from most other commodities.
Substitution with platinum
Catalyst makers can, over time, reformulate to use more platinum in place of palladium as their relative prices change. Extended periods of high palladium prices create an economic incentive to substitute, which can eventually cap demand.
Notable moments
2001: a Russian-supply price spike
Through the late 1990s and early 2000s palladium was highly volatile, partly because Russia's exports from state stockpiles were erratic and opaque. In early 2001 palladium briefly touched around $1,090 per ounce before crashing — a vivid example of how supply uncertainty from a concentrated producer can drive extreme spikes.
2019-2022: the great palladium squeeze
A multi-year deficit between mine supply and autocatalyst demand, plus tightening emissions rules that required more palladium per vehicle, drove the metal from roughly $1,000 in 2018 to an all-time high above $3,400 in early 2022 — a textbook case of how a sustained deficit can rip through a small, thinly traded market.
1803: discovery amid a scientific dispute
William Hyde Wollaston discovered palladium while processing platinum ore and first offered it anonymously for sale. A fellow scientist suspected it was merely a platinum alloy and challenged the claim, prompting a public dispute resolved only when Wollaston revealed his method to the Royal Society.
Common questions
Why is palladium so dependent on the auto industry?
Unlike gold or silver, palladium has few large-scale uses outside gasoline-vehicle catalysts. That concentration means changes in vehicle production, emissions rules, or engine technology translate almost directly into changes in palladium demand.
What happens to palladium demand as EVs grow?
Battery electric vehicles skip the combustion engine and need no catalytic converter, so as their market share grows the share of new vehicles requiring palladium shrinks — a long-term structural challenge that automakers and analysts watch closely.
Is palladium a precious metal?
Yes — it is a precious metal and a platinum-group metal, sharing properties with platinum and rhodium. But its price is driven mainly by industrial fundamentals rather than investment or monetary demand, which sets it apart from gold and silver.
How does Russia's role affect the market?
Russia, principally through Norilsk Nickel, is the world's largest single source of palladium at roughly 40% of mine supply. Geopolitical events, sanctions, or operational problems affecting Russian output can quickly create or relieve supply deficits.