LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Metals consultancy GFMS released its Platinum and Palladium Survey 2009 in London on Thursday, providing an outlook for the two metals for 2009 and historical statistics from last year.
Below is a breakdown of the company's findings on supply and demand for platinum in 2008.
PLATINUM
* In 2008, total platinum demand eased 2 percent to 7.794 million ounces, while supply from mines and scrap -- both jewellery and autocatalyst -- was little changed at 8.059 million, giving a gross market surplus of 265,000 ounces.
* The largest element of demand, buying by the automotive industry, fell 8 percent to 3.814 million ounces last year from 4.139 million. Car sales have slipped sharply as a consequence of the global economic slowdown.
* Jewellery demand stood at 1.646 million ounces in 2008, down from 1.872 million a year before, accounting for some 21 percent of global demand, it said. Jewellery buying, especially in China, picked up late in the year as prices fell.
* An area of growth was retail investment, particularly in Japan, which climbed to 452,000 ounces in 2008 from disinvestment of 7,000 ounces the year before.
* On the supply side, mine output declined for the second year running to 6.151 million ounces from 6.583 million, and is now down 12.4 percent from its 2006 level.
* Of the two largest platinum mining countries, South African mine production was down 8 percent to 4.671 million ounces, while Russian output fell 9 percent to 835,000 ounces.
* North American output ticked up, however, to 342,000 ounces from 328,000.
* A significant addition to supply came from a surge in jewellery scrap, which jumped 68 percent to 910,000 ounces from 543,000. Autocatalyst scrap also rose to 998,000 ounces from 921,000.
PALLADIUM
* Palladium supply dropped 5.2 percent in 2008 to 7.759 million ounces, led by falls in output from South Africa, where mine supply was down 11.7 percent, and Russia, where it fell 11.1 percent.
* Demand meanwhile slid a smaller 1.6 percent. Autocatalyst demand fell 6.4 percent, which a 5.6 percent rise in electronics usage and a 1.4 percent uptick in jewellery buying did little to offset.
* Similarly to platinum, retail investment also rose sharply, to 84,000 ounces from 20,000.
* Palladium was also weighed down by Russian stock sales, which rose to 39.8 tonnes in 2008. "Much of these sales were mopped up by the 640,000 ounce gross deficit and a large slice of the remainder was absorbed by ETF investors," GFMS said.
