Barclays: Potential supply growth for platinum remains vulnerable

Potential supply growth for Platinum remains vulnerable. South African power utility Eskom, which provides 95% of the country’s power, has warned of the risk of power outages following around 13% of its generating capacity being down for planned maintenance, along with concerns about Coal stockpiles, said Barclays Capital in a research note.

“While the risks are currently not as great as 2008, when the high level of planned maintenance, much lower coal stockpiles and flooding led to power shortages, the utility is due to increase power tariffs by 25% this year (and similar levels have been implemented in the past two years) to improve infrastructure,” Barclays added.

“Platinum cost pressures have eased of late as the rand has weakened against the dollar, but they remain high and, furthermore, potential power-related production losses, coupled with the growing number of safety-related stoppages, leaves potential supply growth vulnerable,” Barclays – CommodityOnline

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Posted by admin on Jan 11 2012. Filed under Platinum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry