Rhodium prices moved lower this week on multiple small-volume deals done late last week/early this week at lower levels.
The Platts New York Dealer rhodium price range dipped to $625-$650/oz from $630-$665/oz, with sources putting most sales in the $635 range. The lowest sale heard was $600, with the highest sale at $665.
"It was sold hard early in the week but came it came back," said one physical dealer of PGMs in the US Northeast, putting this week's range at $600-$650. "But with the Chinese out on holiday, they weren't actively buying, and the recyclers began offering lower."
A PGMs refiner said, "There was some good two-action going on, but it was for small amounts -- 10-20 oz. Nothing of any size was going through," the refiner said, putting the week's range of physical deals at $630-$650.
One PGMs recycler in the US heard of a bid at $625, but wasn't sure a sale occurred. The recycler put this week's range of deals between $625 and $655.
A second PGMs dealer in Europe said he sold small volumes at $645 and put this week's range at $635-$650. The dealer acknowledged there might have been offers below $635, but hadn't heard of any sales.
The dealer thought rhodium prices this week were fairly similar to those seen last week.
"I do think there is a feeling that the market could move lower, just because of the inactivity in the market," he said.
Chinese market participants were on holiday June 9-10, while some US market participants began their summer holiday season following the May 30 Memorial Day weekend.
"But rhodium can also turn on a dime. If some of the industrial consumers start hedging down at this level, then we could see a pick-up pretty quickly," the European dealer said.
Base prices of major European PGM refiners eased slightly this week. Johnson Matthey of the UK and Engelhard Materials Services (BASF) of Germany lowered their rhodium base prices by $10 to $650/oz.
