Palladium tops commodity performance on worries over near-term supply

London

IN the main commodity markets, nothing is doing better than palladium this year.

The metal is up 30 per cent, beating 33 other raw materials, including lean hogs and aluminium, tracked by Bloomberg. On Friday, prices surged as much as 7.9 per cent to a 16-year high of US$928.36 an ounce as some traders were said to scramble to get hold of physical supplies.

Palladium, which is mainly used to curb harmful emissions from petrol vehicles, has rallied on expectations that supply will lag demand for a sixth straight year. It's now almost as expensive as platinum for the first time…