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Platinum Drops After South African Miners Settle Wage Disputes |
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Platinum fell for a third day in four in Asian trading after the world's two biggest producers of the metal settled wage disputes with South African workers, averting strikes and supply disruptions.
Anglo Platinum Ltd. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. yesterday signed separate agreements to boost wages, the National Union of Mineworkers said.
"News of a settlement between unions representing platinum miners and Impala Platinum temporarily weakened platinum prices'' James Steel, an analyst at HSBC Securities in New York, wrote in a report dated yesterday.
Platinum for immediate delivery fell $10, or 0.8 percent, to $1,276 an ounce as of 1:15 p.m. in Tokyo. The metal has climbed 12 percent this year, partly on concern that South African wage disputes would crimp production.
The metal for June delivery gained 4 yen, or 0.1 percent, 4,876 yen a gram ($1,267 an ounce) as of the 1:32 p.m. on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.
Anglo Platinum will pay workers between 8.5 percent and 10 percent more in the first year of the agreement and 8 percent to 9 percent in the second, NUM negotiator Oupa Komane said via phone yesterday. The accord is to be signed on Aug. 24.
Impala will increase salaries by between 8 percent and 10 percent in the first year and 5 percent to 8 percent in the second, the union said in an e-mailed statement. South Africa's annual inflation rate was 6.4 percent in June.
The NUM is the largest mining labor union in South Africa, which produced 78 percent of the world's platinum last year. back to the News |
