Johannesburg – New commercial vehicle sales in the 28-member European Union bode well for platinum producers in South Africa.
Sales figures for March released in Brussels by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed a 20.7% increase on last year.
Even though the region produces less than a quarter of the world’s new vehicles, European demand accounts for just over a third of global platinum demand for use in autocatalysts.
The March 2015 year-on-year sales growth was the highest since December 2013, following gains of 8.3% y/y in February and 7.6% y/y in January.
In the first quarter of 2015, the EU market expanded by 13.3% to reach 502,210 commercial vehicles. The high growth rate shows that the EU is recovering despite the current Greek debt crisis.