LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Autocatalyst material rhodium <RHOD-LON> has risen 30 percent in the last week as dealers take advantage of low prices to buy the metal amid hopes the downturn in the automotive industry may be bottoming out.
Below are projections for rhodium supply and demand for the full year 2008, as produced by metals consultancy Johnson Matthey.
* Rhodium is a hard, silvery-white metal mined mainly in South Africa as a by-product of platinum production.
* Four out of five ounces of the metal are used by the car industry in catalytic converters.
* The automotive sector accounted for 645,000 ounces of rhodium demand last year, net of 184,000 ounces of recycled supply.
* The chemical sector bought a further 72,000 ounces of rhodium, while offtake from the glass industry was 57,000 ounces.
* South Africa, the world's largest rhodium miner, produced 620,000 ounces in 2008, equivalent to some 82 percent of global supply.
* Other major suppliers include Russia, which produced 90,000 ounces last year, and North America, with output of 20,000 ounces.
* Last year the rhodium market was in deficit by 62,000 ounces, against a deficit of 34,000 ounces in 2007.
* Rhodium prices tumbled more than 90 percent from their all-time high above $10,000 an ounce reached in June last year as the global economic downturn hurt the car market.
