This morning, China released platinum and palladium data for January. For both metals,
the import number was disappointing. China’s platinum imports dropped to almost half
of December last year (369Kozs), at 195Kozs in January. China has become much more
price-sensitive since the start of 2012, as yet again demonstrated by the January data.
Platinum averaged $1,424 in January 2014, and only $1,356 in December 2013.
Palladium imports declined from 70.7Kozs in December to 54.4Kozs in January.
While palladium imports tend to decline in January, this year’s print is still the lowest
import number for China since at least 2009.
Swiss customs data was released yesterday. Switzerland was a net importer of platinum
and a net exporter of palladium in January. The main features of the data were that
Russian exports to Switzerland had remained stable, and SA’s exports to Switzerland
rose in January (although February is likely to be down, due to strike action).
There is still gold support in the US. In Asia, demand is still muted. We believe that Asia
physical demand must be brisk to move gold higher on a sustainable basis. The SGE
premium dropped as low as $0.75/oz this morning – a level not seen for some time.
Silver keeps running into resistance on approach of $22.00. Silver’s fundamentals are
weak, and rallies are likely to fade. We believe that China’s silver inventory levels remain
high (possmainstream precious metal that has not seen a y/y rise in imports by China because Asia
is not responding to lower prices. ibly up to 15 months’ worth of fabrication demand). In fact, silver is the only

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