Palladium is a chemical element, forming together with iridium (Ir), rhodium (Rh), platinum (Pt), osmium (Os), and ruthinium (Ru), a group of elements called the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs). It is the lightest metal of the PGMs.
Quick Overview of Palladium
✔️A brief overview of palladium (Pd)
✔️History of palladium
✔️Production of palladium
How to trade palladium
Key factors affecting the palladium price
Applications and uses of palladium
Conclusion
A brief overview of palladium (Pd)
Palladium has the atomic symbol Pd and the atomic number 46 and is included in group 10 on the periodic table, together with three other transitional metals, namely nickel (Ni), platinum (Pt), and darmstadtium (Ds). Features of transitional metals are amongst others, hardness, high densities, high boiling and melting points, excellent conductivity, and ductility.
Palladium is regarded as one of the precious metals on earth, rarer to be found in the earth’s crust than the other three major precious metals, and the most expensive of the four major precious metals, namely gold, silver, platinum, and palladium.
It is also classified into the group of noble metals due to its ability to resist corrosion and oxidation in moist air. In addition, palladium is not easily attacked by acids. Examples of other noble metals are gold, platinum, silver, and rhodium.
Noble metals are the opposite of base metals like nickel, zinc, and aluminium which tarnish and corrode easily. Base metals are also more readily available.
The name palladium is derived from the name of the asteroid Pallas, which was named after the epithet of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. The name was given to the metal by its discoverer William Wollaston in 1803, the year following the discovery of the asteroid Pallas on 28 March 1802 – the second asteroid to be discovered and the third largest asteroid.
Other common characteristics of palladium are:
- Appearance: Silvery-white.
- Boiling point: 2 963 degrees Celsius (5 365 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Melting point: 1 554.8 degrees Celsius (2 830.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Excellent catalyst.
History of palladium
Palladium was discovered by William Hyde Wollaston (1766 – 1828), an English scientist, in 1803, the year before his discovery of the chemical element rhodium in 1804.
Wollaston was busy analysing samples of platinum ore that he received from South America. He was able to extract palladium from the platinum ore ‘by dissolving platinum in a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid and noticing that a second element was left behind,’ according to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).
Wollaston initially did not reveal his discovery. Instead, he put some of the palladium up for sale with a mineral dealer in London, advertising it as ‘new silver.’ Richard Chevenix (1774 – 1830), an Irish chemist and mineralogist, was sceptical about Wollaston’s finding, declaring it a hoax and an alloy of mercury and platinum.
However, Wollaston had the last say when he gave a full and convincing account of palladium and its properties to the Royal Society of London in February 1805.
Production of palladium
Palladium commonly occurs in deposits of platinum, nickel, copper, silver, and gold in the crust of the earth.
Similar to the other metals in the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs), palladium is a rare metal, with an occurrence of 0.001 – 0.01 parts per million (ppm) in the crust of the earth. According to Statista, approximately 200 metric tonnes of palladium were globally produced in 2025, a decrease of 10 metric tonnes from 2025. The following countries were the major producers of palladium in 2025 (2020 figures in brackets):
- South Africa: 80 metric tonnes (70 metric tonnes)
- Russia: 74 metric tonnes (91 metric tonnes)
- Canada: 17 metric tonnes (20 metric tonnes)
- USA: 14 metric tonnes (14 metric tonnes)
- Zimbabwe: 13 metric tonnes (12 metric tonnes)
- Other countries: An insignificantly 2.8 metric tonnes (2.6 metric tonnes)
Norilisk Nickel in Russia was the largest global palladium producer in 2025, accounting for approximately 40% of the global supply of palladium.
Sibanye-Stillwater in South Africa is the second-largest supplier of palladium followed by Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Impala Platinum (Implats).
The Bushveld Complex which is mostly located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa is the largest PGMs resource in the world, representing approximately 40 percent of the annual global production of palladium.
Some of the largest importers of palladium are Germany, China, Japan, and the USA, mainly due to the large number of vehicles manufactured by these countries.
Palladium is extracted as a by-product of platinum, nickel, copper, silver, and gold. The separation of palladium from these metals depends upon the type of ore from which it is extracted.
Besides the primary production of palladium, the availability of the metal is enhanced by implementing recycling and other methods. For instance, the mining Group, Sibanye-Stillwater mentions in its introduction ‘The Group is also one of the foremost global PGM auto catalytic recyclers and has interests in leading mine tailings retreatment operations.’
How to trade palladium
There are several ways that will enable investors to invest in palladium. For example:
- Buying physical palladium bullion in the form of bars or coins. There are numerous bullion dealers available to assist and advise investors in the trading of palladium bullion.
- Purchasing shares of companies that are involved in the mining and refining of palladium and other precious metals. Examples of such companies are Sibanye-Stillwater, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum Holdings (Implats), and Northam Platinum Holdings, to name a few.
- Palladium futures are traded on the London Platinum and Palladium Market and on the New York Mercantile exchange.
- An easier way is to invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on palladium. ETFs enable investors to invest in the physical metal, such as palladium, getting exposure to its value without having to physically store the metal.
In order to trade with investing instruments such as ETFs and futures, an investor requires a professional, trusted, and regulated commodity broker like AvaTrade who will be able to guide and advise an investor in the trading of commodities such as palladium.
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Key factors affecting the palladium price
As of 11 April 2025, the price of palladium closed at $2 435.40 a troy ounce. The metal reached an all-time high of almost $3 441 an ounce in March 2025, due to the war waged by Russia in Ukraine and the sweeping sanctions which the European Union (EU), the USA, and other countries such as Australia and New Zealand have consequently imposed on Russia.
With Russia the second biggest global supplier of palladium, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the ensuing sanctions are significantly affecting the global supply of palladium, increasing the price of the metal.
For example, on April 8th, two key trading hubs, the London Platinum and Palladium Market and the Chicago Metal Exchange, prohibited two palladium refineries in Russia to deliver palladium to the particular markets.
As of 12 April 2025, western countries have not sanctioned Russian platinum group metal exports, according to Trading Economics, reporting that the Russian company, Norilsk Nickel, which is the major producer of palladium in the world, confirmed ‘that it has managed to secure alternative routes for its palladium deliveries even though it faced significant logistics constraints.’
Looking at the history of the palladium price, the following figures show how the metal’s price (indicated as US dollars per ounce) has fluctuated over the years:
- August 1977: A record low of $42.20.
- 1986 – 1996: The price moved around $100 to $150.
- January 8, 2001, the metal reached its highest price at that time, trading at $993.00. It was palladium’s highest price for almost 17 years until it traded at $993.20 on 13 November 2017.
- Since 20 May 2019, palladium’s price fluctuated between $1 325 and its all-time high in March 2025.
According to Statista, the average price of palladium was $2 600 per ounce in 2025.
Factors that determine the supply and demand of palladium and consequently its price are, amongst others:
- In the automotive industry in which it is used as a key component in catalytic converters. The growth in demand has been driven by strict emissions legislation and regulations by governments, such as China and European countries.
In addition, growing sales of vehicles in a country such as China increases the use of catalytic converters.
However, the increased use of electric vehicles could jeopardise the demand for palladium.
High oil prices are another factor that could negatively affect the production of new vehicles resulting in lower demand for precious metals such as palladium, rhodium, and platinum.
The shortage of semiconductors, also called microchips, used in the auto industry has limited production and consequently demands palladium. Although, vehicle manufacturers and analysts expect that the shortage will ease from about the second half of 2025.
- Market speculation.
- Political events in South Africa and Russia, the two major producers of palladium in the world.
- Labour disruptions in the mining sector in South Africa.
Applications and uses of palladium
In a report about the applications and uses of palladium, the multinational mining and metals processing Group, Sibanye-Stillwater, quoted the following figures about the demand for the metal in 2019, as supplied by SFA (Oxford).
- Auto: 81%
- Chemical: 7%
- Glass: 5%
- Medical: 3%
- Jewellery: 2%
- Other: 2%
The figures indicate that the precious and rare metal, palladium, is used in several industries.
As shown in the figures above, palladium is mostly used in the automotive industry, specifically in catalytic converters for the exhaust systems of vehicles. The metal’s chemical properties make it possible that hazardous emissions to be reduced.
Sibanye-Stillwater explains the use of palladium as an integral component in catalytic converters as follows: ‘It is particularly effective in gasoline three-way catalysts for converting potentially harmful hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to harmless gases safe for release into the atmosphere.’ (Accentuation by the article writer.)
Palladium is used in the manufacturing of carbon monoxide detectors, also referred to as CO detectors, which provide early warnings of the presence of the poisonous gas, preventing carbon monoxide poisoning.
The palladium compound, palladium dichloride, is able to absorb large amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) gas, catalysing it into carbon dioxide (CO2).
Palladium is an excellent catalyst, making the use of the metal in hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes possible. Hydrogen (H) easily diffuses (moves) through heated palladium, allowing for an almost effortless purification of hydrogen. (Dehydrogenation refers to a chemical reaction that involves the removal of hydrogen, typically from an organic molecule. Hydrogenation is the reverse process of dehydrogenation.)
Hydrogenation has many applications in the petrochemical industry, the food industry, and the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, to name a few.
Dehydrogenation is used, inter alia, in the petrochemical industry to produce aromatics.
In addition, palladium is used extensively in the conductive pastes in the manufacturing of multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).
The applications of MLCCs are, amongst other applications:
- Induction furnaces.
- Transmitter stations.
- High voltage laser power supplies.
- Power circuit breakers.
- High-density applications.
- Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are found in televisions, computers, mobile phones, and electrical appliances such as washing machines, kettles, and irons, used in the smoothing of clothes and sheets.
As the second-largest palladium global producer of palladium, Sibanye-Stillwater mentions that ‘palladium-based MLCCs retain strong market share in particularly demanding applications, such as military and some transport, where their high performance and durability outweigh the price premium over nickel.’
As a catalyst, palladium is an integral part of various chemical processes, enhancing the quality of products, requiring fewer purification steps, as well as fewer energy input.
In jewellery manufacturing, palladium is alloyed with gold to form a material referred to as white gold. However, in recent years palladium has lost some of its prestige as a jewellery metal and has primarily been used as a minor component in an alloy with platinum.
In the medical industry, palladium is used to make surgical instruments. In dentistry, the metal is used in dental fillings, crowns, and dental bridges.
It also plays an important role in restorative dentistry. Although, this application of palladium is slowly dwindling, because of the use of alternative ceramic materials.
Palladium is also used in watchmaking and in the plating of electrical contacts in which the metal is used as a non-toxic substitute for lead.
In conclusion
Palladium is not only a precious element in the crust of the earth but also a precious commodity in daily life. It enhances the quality of life significantly: by improving the quality of the air we breathe, making advanced chemical processes possible, and making PCBs available that are essential for our smartphones, televisions, computers, and electrical appliances in our homes.
Note: This article does not constitute investment, financial or trading advice. Please obtain the advice of a professional and regulated commodity broker before making trading and investment decisions.
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