PLATINUM DEMAND ESTIMATED 17 PCT HIGHER BY 1991
  Demand for platinum could reach 3.4 mln
  ounces by 1991, compared with an estimated offtake of 2.88 mln
  in 1986, Chris Clark, platinum marketing director for Johnson
  Matthey Plc said.
      Clark told a meeting of the Minerals Research Organisation
  in Milton Keynes he foresaw a 250,000 ounce increase in
  consumption for use in autocatalysts, currently the largest
  single application for platinum.
      Jewellery consumption is set to rise by 70,000 ounces,
  Clark predicted in his speech, the text of which was released
  in London today.
      Clark said his forecast allowed for only a modest further
  increase in investment buying and may well be cautious.
      He said South Africa was the most likely source of
  additional supplies and will need to increase output by about
  500,000 ounces to meet increased demand.
      The capital investment required to produce the additional
  output would be around one billion U.S. Dlrs and the political
  climate may make it difficult to raise the money, he said.
      The Soviet Union, whose exports have declined since the
  1970s, might increase sales to the West by about 50,000 ounces,
  Clark said.
      "The very probability of a growth in demand set against the
  massive investment required for expansion - and that expansion
  only being viable in South Africa or Russia - leads me to
  conclude that the price of platinum will be substantially
  underpinned in the medium to long-term," Clark said.
  

