lijian
As an important member of platinum group elements, palladium is an extremely rare white precious metal, and its annual output is close to that of platinum.
Palladium, like platinum, is mainly needed and applied in automotive catalysts in the automotive industry, while the demand for jewelry has increased since 2003, and China is the largest demand country at present.
Figure1-1-7 Supply and demand of palladium in the world in 2008
(source: GFMS)
According to Platinum and Palladium Yearbook 2009 published by GFMS, the total supply gap of palladium in 2008 was 19.9 tons, but if Russian inventory sales and ET F fund investment were included, the actual palladium surplus was 8.0 tons. The demand for palladium is actually decreasing, by 4.3 tons, including the sharp decrease of automotive catalysts, especially in the United States, although the demand in Europe has been offset by the increase in the application of diesel vehicles. At the same time, the demand for palladium jewelry has increased slightly. Most importantly, the sales volume in China market has increased slightly, and the American market has also increased, although palladium jewelry is still in the initial stage of development. The total demand in 2009 decreased by 1 1% compared with that in 2008, and the total palladium supply gap was 2.2 tons. However, if Russian inventory sales and ET F fund investment are included, there is a surplus of 18.7 tons.
2. Advantages and trends of palladium in jewelry industry.
The use of palladium in jewelry actually appeared as early as the 1940s. During World War II, because platinum was used as a strategic reserve by the government and stopped being used by the people, well-known jewelry brands, such as Tiffany in the United States, once chose palladium to make jewelry. However, after the war, palladium was not widely used in jewelry industry. Firstly, the price of platinum was still in a relatively acceptable range, and more importantly, the special physical properties of palladium increased the difficulty of its manufacturing process. Even so, palladium has always played a green role in jewelry making. In early platinum jewelry in Japan and China, palladium was used as ingredients or joint fillers, so palladium was used in jewelry industry.
Table1-1-2 Supply and Demand of Palladium in the World in 2009
(source: GFMS)
Palladium is really widely used in jewelry, which originated in China. At the end of 2003, in order to reduce the risk of capital cost, some domestic operators thought of making jewelry with palladium, another member of the platinum family with moderate price. Palladium ornaments were officially born in China.
Palladium jewelry has a short history in the precious metal jewelry market in China, but after just over four years of struggle, it has grown into an important member of the precious metal jewelry market, and its position cannot be underestimated!
What are the advantages of palladium developing into a new star in precious metal jewelry market in such a short time?
2009 China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Guide
First, let's look at the physical properties of palladium. Rare, belonging to platinum group elements, its output is very close to platinum every year, which shows its extremely rare characteristics. Apart from being rare, palladium has strong ductility, has a silvery metallic luster in the natural state, does not fade, is insensitive to skin, has light density but extremely high hardness, and is not easy to oxidize and lose luster under normal circumstances.
Physically, palladium has the characteristics required for precious metal jewelry, but physically, palladium has the remarkable feature of low density. In other words, a piece of precious metal jewelry with the same weight, such as gold, platinum and palladium, can be made larger and more stereoscopic, which is very suitable for the jewelry design trend in recent years and will not make people feel heavy when wearing it.
2009 China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Guide
Then, let's discuss whether the price is suitable. In the case of precious metal prices hitting record highs, the moderate price of palladium can better meet the requirements of operators to reduce the pressure of capital investment. At the same time, it also enables consumers to buy natural white precious metal jewelry with novel style, strong three-dimensional sense and high cost performance at a more suitable price.
For the above reasons, besides China, more palladium ornaments have appeared in other countries. In recent years, in addition to the traditional jewelry field, some internationally renowned clothing brands have begun to discover the value of palladium and use it as a covering or manufacturing material. What's more worth mentioning is that many famous watches have begun to pay attention to the rare value of palladium, and began to make expensive watches with the price of several hundred thousand to several hundred thousand yuan.
In the United States, in recent years, many chain jewelry stores began to use palladium as jewelry material, especially in inlaid jewelry, palladium is widely used because of its physical characteristics. There is an interesting thing that deserves our attention, that is, in the aspect of wedding rings, many palladium-plated products have appeared one after another.
What we should pay more attention to is that in August 2009, Britain announced that palladium jewelry would become the fourth precious metal with purity mark, which further confirmed the status of palladium as a precious metal. After the announcement, voluntary inspection will be carried out first, and it will be enforced from 20 10 to 1. This move shows the concern of relevant quality inspection departments. It is noteworthy that after the implementation of voluntary inspection in August, 27,427 pieces were submitted for inspection in the third quarter, all of which were Pd950. At the same time, it also proves that palladium ornaments in the British jewelry market have attracted the attention of consumers and the industry. According to industry speculation, the implementation of palladium jewelry purity labeling in Britain will also affect the attention paid to palladium by jewelry quality inspection departments in other EU countries, and it is believed that compulsory purity labeling will also be implemented soon.
Finally, Japan deserves special mention. Japan has always been a big jewelry consumer, and the pursuit of fashion jewelry by Japanese consumers is well known. They have always been advocates of white precious metal jewelry. However, Japan's economy began to deteriorate in the 1990s, which led to a continuous decline in jewelry consumption and a strong polarization in the jewelry market. After more than ten years' evolution, there are almost only a few international and specially localized jewelry brands on the market as high-end jewelry consumption and local mass consumption, which are close to clothing accessories, and there are few mid-range local brands. This situation makes consumers' choices narrower and narrower. Consumers are also tired of the current common precious metal jewelry, and they all hope to see new precious metal varieties in the market. Jewelry operators are also constantly looking for a new precious metal material, and they all think of this platinum group member-palladium. Therefore, in the past two years, many jewelry manufacturers have successively developed palladium ornaments, and it is expected that palladium ornaments will be seen in the jewelry market from 20 10.
The United States, Japan and Britain, which are major jewelry consumers, have successively launched palladium jewelry, which shows that palladium jewelry has been recognized in the international precious metal jewelry market and played a corresponding role.
3. Prospect of China palladium jewelry market in the next few years.
Seeing the situation and development trend of the international palladium jewelry market, let's talk about the future prospect of the palladium jewelry market in China.
China's jewelry consumption market is huge. Since the reform and opening up, the consumption figures of jewelry have been rising. According to the data released by China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Industry Association, jewelry consumption has been growing at a high speed since 2002, from 84 billion in 2002 to more than 200 billion predicted in 2009, which is amazing! The financial crisis in 2008 had little impact on jewelry consumption. Such a huge jewelry consumption market means that the market needs more different kinds of jewelry and richer kinds of precious metals for consumers to choose from, so apart from traditional gold, platinum, gold and silver, palladium will also become an important member of white natural precious metals!
Consumers' purchase of jewelry is no longer limited to a single traditional value preservation and wedding demand, but also increases the demand for catching up with fashion and matching clothes. At the same time, with the development of market information, the understanding of precious metal jewelry is becoming more and more mature. Therefore, when consumers choose jewelry styles, they also choose precious metal materials used in jewelry. Consumers will contact the types of precious metals according to the purpose and price of the jewelry they buy. Among gold, platinum and gold and silver jewelry, the price of palladium jewelry is lower than platinum and gold and close to gold, but palladium can make jewelry have a stronger sense of fashion because of its light density.
Of course, it goes without saying that the initial reason why palladium ornaments appear in China is that operators want to reduce the risk of investment costs, and price is of course the only consideration, which is also the reason why consumers buy them. Even so, we still need to answer a question, that is: is price the only factor that consumers consider when buying jewelry? The answer is no, of course. As mentioned above, consumers in China are more and more mature about jewelry, and they are very rational about how to choose jewelry. Although palladium does have price and some physical advantages, it needs long-term education and promotion to gain a firm foothold in the precious metal jewelry market and let consumers open their hearts to accept it. At the same time, because palladium has not been listed on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, many consumers have doubts about the precious metal status of palladium, which directly or indirectly affects consumers' confidence in palladium jewelry consumption.
2009 China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Guide
Therefore, Palladium Alliance International (PAI), an international non-profit promotion organization, set up an office in China in 2006, aiming at developing the palladium jewelry market in China, promoting the sales of palladium jewelry, standardizing the market together with relevant government agencies and peers, and striving to establish palladium jewelry as a fashionable white precious metal jewelry. Since entering China, the Association has actively communicated with relevant departments and worked hard to promote the listing of palladium on the gold exchange.
2009 China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Guide
Since the Association entered China in September 2006, it has continuously provided palladium jewelry manufacturers with production technology knowledge, with a view to making more distinctive palladium jewelry with more exquisite technology. At the same time, it is also one of the work of the association to provide supporting sales for retail terminals.
The recent surge in gold prices and consumers' pursuit of investment preservation have had a certain impact on white precious metals in the last two quarters of 2009. But this is only short-lived, because there will be calm thinking after the enthusiasm, and consumers will still make choices according to their actual needs when buying precious metal jewelry.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that palladium jewelry brands should appear in the market one after another. In the past four years, palladium jewelry was rarely sold in the market as a brand, and it was generally sold only in the name of palladium jewelry in retail terminals. But this situation will soon change. With the attention of jewelry enterprises to palladium and the pursuit of brands by consumers, brands mainly selling palladium will appear. As far as the Association knows, in addition to domestic jewelry companies, Japanese jewelry companies are also planning to introduce Japanese brands into China and start selling palladium jewelry.
An important news to look forward to is that palladium is expected to be listed and traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange on 20 10, so that palladium can better let consumers determine its precious metal status.
International Palladium Association will continue to strengthen the dissemination of palladium jewelry knowledge to consumers, and will continue to deepen the image of palladium jewelry in marketing, give relative support to enterprises in the industry, and constantly update production technology. Therefore, it is certain that palladium jewelry will blossom in the precious metal jewelry market in China!