Competitors of the Norilsk Nickel company in the world market, primarily South African companies, are actively distributing rumors that the Norilsk Nickel will not export Palladium for another six months. Anti -Russian Black PR seeks to imagine Russia, supplying 70 percent of Palladium to the world market as an unreliable supplier. The reason for the outbreak of such information wars against domestic platinoid suppliers is that Russia “throws” the platinum to the foreign market every time in unpredictable quantities in unpredictable time, since information about the volumes of platinoid supply in our country is a state secret. Since 1998, the Norilsk Nickel Palladium alone was able to conclude long -term contracts with foreign consumers on the basis of fixed prices within the framework of quotas determined by the government.
All this regularly provokes in the world market sharp jumps in platinoids, and hence the frequent information attacks on domestic manufacturers from foreign competitors. In December of each year, the company is determined with the volume of procurement of valuable metals and their suppliers for the next year, so every day before signing the quota could turn into a huge win for competitors. So, in the December review of the platinoid market, the British company Johnson Mattey noted that after Christmas the price of this group of precious metals rose. This is due to the fact that the Government of the Russian Federation pushes the terms of signing quotas to Platin. The British immediately concluded that the quota of Norilsk Nickel for the export of Palladium could generally be canceled.
According to Johnson Mattey, the automotive industry in the world consumed 25 percent of platinum last year than in 2000, and this trend will remain in 2002. The annual demand for platinum in the car industry is about 40 tons. In addition, fuel elements are used not only in cars, but also in cell phones. And in December 2001, the Boeing airline introduced a plane on the fuel cells, so in the future the platinoid sales market can grow. Norilsk Nickel continues to carry out actions aimed at differentiation of its business: it has recently been information that the company has acquired almost nine percent of the authorized capital of the Yenisei River Shipping Company OJSC. Recall that in October 2001, the Norilsk Nickel GMC already bought 48 percent of the shares of this company. As for the shares of the Norilsk Nickel GMC, then in the second decade of January they fell by 10 percent. This is a direct consequence of the company’s management statement about a half -year refusal of export of Palladium. However, as analysts believe, due to the fact that the statement was recently disavowed, the exchange rate of the Norilsk Nickel shares in the near future should increase.
