JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – In a year where change is proving to be rapid and consequential, the major upcoming Shanghai Platinum Week is bound to connect key trends across the platinum group metals (PGMs) value chain as it has done progressively since 2021.

This year’s Shanghai Platinum Week in Suzhou from July 6 to 10 will take place against the background of previous platinum weeks having given rise to the fruitful creation the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) for platinum and palladium futures in late 2025.

What is also beneficial is that it comes at a pivotal moment for China’s PGMs market, the world’s largest consumer of these metals that are overwhelmingly hosted by South Africa, which achieved 120.3% higher sales of South Africa’s PGMs in the three months to April 30.

Based upon its recent 15th Five-Year Plan, China is accelerating structural shifts across AI, new energy, environmental protection, and carbon reduction and PGMs underpinning these national priorities are being reinforced as critical and strategic.

For anyone participating in the global PGMs ecosystem, Shanghai Platinum Week, an annual conference and exhibition dedicated to PGMs, offers unparalleled insight into China’s direction of travel and access to the decision-makers shaping it, World Platinum Investment Council’s (WPIC’s) 60 Seconds In Platinum media release to Mining Weekly points out. 

China’s AI ambitions are a defining pillar. With their distinctive catalytic, thermal, and electrical properties making PGMs indispensable to the rollout of AI infrastructure, AI is rapidly emerging as a new end-use market for PGMs, with demand spanning semiconductors, optical interconnection, printed circuit boards, sensors, data storage, advanced materials, and energy supply for data centres, the WPIC report adds.

CHINA’S HYDROGEN SCALE-UP

At the same time, China is scaling up hydrogen production faster than anywhere in the world. The 15th Five-Year Plan positions hydrogen as a strategic priority, supported by ambitious fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) deployment targets. PGM-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) technologies sit at the heart of this growth.

Financial market evolution is another critical theme. The GFEX launched platinum and palladium futures as a significant new source of liquidity and price discovery for platinum and palladium, providing, for the first time, a domestic platform through which end-users can effectively hedge price risk.

GFEX’s very distinctive delivery mechanisms and planned expansion to enable international participation are expected to deepen trading and create new arbitrage opportunities globally.

Complementing this is the recent launch of a new precious metals clearing system in Hong Kong, further strengthening regional platinum metals market infrastructure. 

Investment demand is also undergoing a step-change. China’s platinum bar and coin market has grown from negligible levels in 2018 to an estimated 404 000 oz in 2025, highlighting the rapid development of investable products and channels and a growing appetite for physical platinum investment. 

Alongside these developments, last year’s VAT changes in relation to platinum sales are expected to carry long-term positive implications for PGM recycling (and potential headwinds for jewellery and investment demand), while tightening vehicle emissions regulations are on the horizon, which could prove to be a boost to PGM automotive demand. 

WPIC Asia Pacific regional head Weibin Deng explains that China’s PGMs market is entering a new phase of development, where traditional demand drivers are being complemented by powerful new growth areas such as investment, GFEX, AI, and hydrogen, with the Shanghai Platinum Week providing an essential platform to understand these shifts and engage directly with the market participants driving them.

Shanghai Platinum Week’s mission is to leverage China’s position as the number-one market for PGMs as measured on demand, establishing a highly-respected platform for serious learning, unparalleled engagement and exceptional networking opportunities.

Its series of events centre on developments and opportunities within the PGM market and it includes conferences, seminars, exhibitions, networking opportunities, and product/report releases.

Its main focus is the China PGMs Market Summit, which features presentations from a wide range of PGM industry leaders and innovators speaking on a variety of relevant and informative PGM-related themes.

Linked to the event is the precious metal industrial committee at China Material Recycle Association, whose members contribute 85% market share of China's precious metal recycling and refining and account for 60% market share of China’s precious metal trading.

The committee is committed to establishing and improving the self-discipline mechanism of the precious metal industry, cooperating with government agencies to formulate industrial regulations, standards and industrial planning, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of its members, actively promoting the standardised operation of precious metal industry, and leading the large-scale and international development of precious metal industry in China.

EUROPE, CANADA, HONG KONG

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group has laid out a vision for a hydrogen-powered future in Europe. With EU climate goals looming large and a strong push for energy security, Hydrogen Fuel News reports that Hyundai’s integrated system brings together hydrogen production, infrastructure, fuel cells, and zero-emission vehicles.

In Canada, the German company Bosch Hybrion reports that PEM stacks will be featured in a 1.25 MW PEM electrolyser system, integrated with Hygreen Energy's balance-of-plant system. The full system will be delivered to Nova Scotia, where it is planned to be integrated and commissioned by Waterford Energy Services in 2027. The project aims to support applications including heavy-duty truck refuelling, industrial processes, and remote energy infrastructure needs. PEM is PGM-based.

In India, Hydrogeninsight reports that the government is planning tenders for green hydrogen exports after successful domestic actions.

In Hong Kong, Hyundai signed a partnership agreement to expand the city's hydrogen infrastructure and mobility initiatives . . . and the list could go on!