According to Johnson Matthey, the world’s largest platinum refiner, China is once again likely to witness a rise in sale of platinum jewellery after a slack of a few years. China had last witnessed such an increase in 2003.

“After several years of falling demand, we expect Chinese platinum jewellery purchases to rise in 2007. Platinum demand in China is expected to continue growing into 2008, again with key demand from auto and jewellery segments”, mentioned O'Meara Johnson Matthey’s market research manager.

O'Meara estimated that the net platinum consumption for jewellery may increase by 2.6% to 780,000 ounces, or 24.2 tonnes, over last year. This rise is attributed to increased disposable incomes among urban households especially the nouveau riche and China’s economy growing at an average rate of 9.6% since 2002. This may in turn affect the rate of Platinum which reached $1,488 an ounce in early November.