The spot platinum price continues to rise, breaking through the $2000 mark on December 22nd. This is the first time spot platinum has risen above $2000 per ounce since 2008. From the perspective of the whole year of 2025, the cumulative increase of spot platinum has exceeded 120%! The epic rise in platinum prices this round is not dominated by a single factor, but rather the result of a "triple resonance" of industrial demand expectations, supply and demand gap support, and financial attributes. According to data from the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC), the total global platinum supply in the first quarter of 2025 was 45.3 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 10%. It is expected that there will be a shortfall of about 20 tons for the whole year of 2025.
Platinum continues to skyrocket, leading to cost control for silicone additive companies. Due to being in a buyer's market for a long time, different companies purchase chloroplatinic acid at different points, resulting in significant cost differences. It is not easy to transfer the increase in price under peer competition, and the phenomenon of increasing revenue without increasing profits is more obvious. At present, most enterprises of platinum catalysts and vulcanizing agents still adopt a single negotiation and actively synchronize the price of chloroplatinic acid with core customers, purchasing and producing according to demand. Platinum catalysts play an irreplaceable role in the synthesis and preparation of silicone rubber. It can effectively suppress side reactions, prevent the formation of black substances, and is particularly suitable for manufacturing high transparency products. In high-end application scenarios such as new energy vehicle seals, electronic equipment packaging materials, and communication components, the stability of platinum catalysts directly determines the performance limit and service life of silicone rubber products.
Platinum skyrockets, causing the production cost of silicone products to spiral out of control? Tianjiang's' High Energy Catalysis Solution 'efficiently reduces costs for you! Compared to the uncontrollable cost of silicone additives, DMC has shown stable performance recently. Although there was a closure last week, it resumed trading this week after the meeting and maintained stable operation. Specifically, the emission reduction of individual factories continues to advance, and the supply situation in some regions has become tighter. At the same time, the middle and downstream industries are gradually digesting the previous inventory, and their ability to undertake high priced goods has improved compared to the previous period. Overall, they are in a stage of moderate digestion of the increase. Driven by both supply and demand, DMC prices have risen to 13500-14000 yuan/ton, and it is expected that the quotation will be raised after New Year's Day.
Industrial silicon: The current industrial silicon market is in a weak supply-demand situation, lacking fundamental driving force for improvement. In terms of supply, the production in the northwest region is relatively stable, and even maintains high output due to the release of production capacity, while the production in the southwest region has been reduced to a low level due to cost pressures caused by rising electricity prices during the dry season and conventional winter production cuts, with limited space for further reduction in the future. On the demand side, due to the slowdown in the growth rate of terminal photovoltaic installed capacity and industry overcapacity, demand continues to be under pressure, and there is an expectation of a decline in polysilicon production; Organic silicon continues to reduce emissions under the call for "anti involution", with limited consumption of metallic silicon. Overall, industrial silicon is still in a weak supply-demand situation, with a lack of substantial improvement momentum in fundamentals. In the near future, spot prices continue to operate weakly. As of December 22, the closing price of the main futures contract Si2602 is 8590 yuan/ton, and the price of 421 # metal silicon is 9800-10200 yuan/ton. It is expected that the industrial silicon market will continue to fluctuate in the short term. In terms of operating rate: Currently, the overall operating rate is around 65%. After the second round of emission reduction coordination meeting last Sunday, individual factories strengthened their emission reduction layout. If downstream suppliers cooperate with stocking up at the end of the month, the confidence of individual factories in raising prices is expected to further increase.