Palladium had its moment. In 2021 it was the most expensive precious metal that mattered to jewelry — pricier than gold, pricier than platinum — and then it fell harder than either of them did. The U.S. Geological Survey's own commodity data puts the average price down by more than half since that peak, even as the metal stays almost entirely dependent on two countries for its supply. Here's what the primary numbers actually show.
How Much Is Palladium Actually Worth?
The USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — the federal government's annual production-and-pricing accounting for platinum-group metals, published February 2026 — reports palladium's average annual price (the Engelhard unfabricated-metal benchmark, sourced from S&P Global Platts Metals Week) at $2,419.18 per troy ounce in 2021. By 2024 that had fallen to $994.90 — a drop of 59% in three years. USGS estimates the 2025 average recovered slightly to $1,100, an 11% rise over 2024, though still less than half of the 2021 level.
A live spot check confirms the partial recovery is holding: Kitco's metals desk put palladium at $1,147.00 per troy ounce on October 6, 2026 — close to the 2025 estimate and well above the 2024 low, but still 52.6% below the 2021 average.
Why the Price Collapsed, Then Partly Recovered
Palladium's drop followed a spike. According to metalcharts.org's historical price data, the metal hit an intraday all-time high near $3,440 per ounce on March 7, 2022, as markets priced in fears that sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine would choke off supply — Russia is the world's largest palladium miner, producing roughly 44% of the 2025 estimated world total on its own, per USGS. That supply shock never fully materialized, and the price gave almost all of the spike back over the following three years as automakers kept shifting toward hybrids and EVs, which need smaller catalytic converters or none at all — softening demand for palladium's single largest use.
The slide wasn't one-directional for producers, either: USGS notes that South Africa's 2025 PGM production fell an estimated 9% from 2024, attributing part of that directly to “declining palladium prices” making deep-level mining less economical — the same price drop that showed up on the other side of the counter, at the pump and in jewelry stores.
Who Actually Mines It
Palladium supply is concentrated in a way most other commodities aren't. USGS's 2025 estimated world mine production breaks down as follows, in kilograms of contained metal:
Russia and South Africa together account for almost 80% of everything mined. U.S. production, by contrast, is collapsing: USGS estimates domestic palladium mine output fell from 10,200 kg in 2024 to 6,200 kg in 2025 — a 39% drop in a single year, as one Montana operation (the country's only PGM miner) went onto care-and-maintenance status. The total value of everything that one company mined and processed, across all platinum-group metals, fell from $420 million in 2024 to $290 million in 2025, a 31% decline.
That production drop shows up directly in how dependent the U.S. is on imports: net import reliance for palladium, as a share of apparent U.S. consumption, jumped from 34% in 2024 to 57% in 2025 — a 23-percentage-point jump in one year. Averaged over 2021–24, USGS lists the leading import sources as South Africa (37%), Russia (36%), Belgium (6%) and Canada (6%), with the remaining 15% from other countries.
What Actually Uses Palladium
USGS is explicit that “the leading domestic use for PGMs was in catalytic converters to decrease harmful emissions from automobiles” — not jewelry. Up to 25% of the palladium in a diesel catalytic converter can routinely be substituted with platinum, and as much as 50% in some applications, which is part of why the two metals' prices move in relation to each other. Recycling is a meaningful part of supply too: about 50,000 kg of palladium was recovered from automobile catalytic converters in the United States alone in 2025, out of roughly 140,000 kg of palladium and platinum combined recovered globally from new and old scrap.
Jewelry is real but secondary. USGS lists it alongside dental and medical devices, electronics (computer hard disks, hybridized integrated circuits, multilayer ceramic capacitors), glass manufacturing, investment and laboratory equipment — all behind catalytic converters as the leading use. Where palladium does show up in jewelry, it's most often as the alloying metal in “palladium white gold,” prized because, unlike the nickel-alloyed white gold it competes with, it doesn't trigger nickel allergies.
Palladium vs. Platinum, Gold and Silver Right Now
Lining up Kitco's live spot prices from October 6, 2026 shows how far palladium now trades below the other three — a reversal from 2021–22, when it traded above both platinum and gold:
Gold — $4,125.40 per troy ounce
Platinum — $1,695.00 per troy ounce
Palladium — $1,147.00 per troy ounce
Silver — $60.48 per troy ounce
At those prices, palladium sits at roughly 68% of platinum's price and just 28% of gold's — the opposite of where it stood through most of 2021 and 2022.
What This Means If You're Buying Jewelry (or Steel That Looks Like It)
None of FARUZO's pieces are priced against any of this. Every FARUZO item is 316L stainless steel with a plated finish, not solid palladium, platinum, gold or silver, so a swing in the metals market like the one charted above doesn't move FARUZO prices the way it would move a palladium-alloyed or platinum ring's. If you want to understand the white-gold alloy palladium is most often used in, see what white gold actually is. If you're shopping for a ring and want the shine without tracking a commodities chart, browse personalized rings.
This is the fourth entry in FARUZO's precious-metals pricing series, built the same way each time — primary annual data plus a live spot check, every figure sourced. See the same approach applied to gold, silver and platinum.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is palladium cheaper than platinum in 2026?
Yes. Kitco's live spot price on October 6, 2026 put palladium at $1,147.00 per troy ounce against platinum's $1,695.00 — palladium trading at roughly 68% of platinum's price. That's a reversal of 2021–22, when palladium traded above platinum and even above gold for stretches.
Why did palladium's price fall so much after 2021?
USGS's annual average price shows a drop from $2,419.18 per ounce in 2021 to $994.90 in 2024, a 59% decline. The metal had spiked to a reported intraday all-time high near $3,440 in March 2022 on Russia-supply fears that didn't fully materialize, while automakers' shift toward hybrids and EVs — which need smaller or no catalytic converters, palladium's leading use — softened the industrial demand that drives most of the price.
Which countries produce most of the world's palladium?
Russia and South Africa together, at an estimated 84,000 kg and 70,000 kg respectively in 2025 — almost 80% of USGS's estimated world total. The United States, by comparison, mined an estimated 6,200 kg in 2025, down 39% from 2024, from the country's only operating PGM mine.
What is palladium used for besides jewelry?
USGS states the leading U.S. use is automotive catalytic converters, ahead of catalysts for chemical production and petroleum refining, dental and medical devices, electronics, glass manufacturing, investment and lab equipment. Jewelry is one of several secondary uses, mostly as the alloying metal in palladium white gold.
Does FARUZO use palladium or platinum in its jewelry?
No. Every FARUZO piece is 316L stainless steel with a plated finish — nickel-safe, and not solid palladium, platinum, gold or silver — so the price swings charted above don't change what a FARUZO piece costs.
Where does this data come from?
The annual averages and production figures come from the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 (Platinum-Group Metals chapter, published February 2026). The current spot prices are Kitco's live precious-metals desk, checked October 6, 2026. The March 2022 all-time-high figure comes from metalcharts.org's historical palladium price data.
