That dollar amount results from a -14.2% decrease for all palladium shippers over the 5-year period starting in 2019 when exported palladium was valuated at $22.4 billion.
Year over year, global palladium exports plunged -34.8% starting from $29.4 billion starting from 2022.
Palladium is a silvery-white rare metal used to make vehicle catalytic converters, jewelry, timepieces, electrical contacts, surgical instruments, spark plugs and blood sugar test strips. Like gold, silver and platinum, palladium is also reported as bullion with its own currency codes.
Major Suppliers of Palladium on Global Markets
The top 5 exporters of palladium are Russia, United States of America, South Africa, United Kingdom and Italy. By value, that quintet of leading palladium suppliers dominate almost three-quarters (73.6%) of globally exported palladium during 2023.
From a continental perspective, shippers in Europe sold the highest dollar worth of palladium exports during 2023 with shipments valued at $11.5 billion or 60.1% of the global subtotal. In second place were exporters located in North America at 16.7%, ahead of another 11.9% of palladium shipments which originated from Africa.
Smaller percentages came from exporters in Asia (7.8%), Australia and New Zealand in Oceania (0.1%), then sellers located in Latin America (0.06%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
In international trade classifications, there are two major subcategories of platinum. For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 711021 for palladium in either unwrought or powder form. Code prefix 711029 represents semi-manufactured palladium.
Unwrought or powdered palladium is the major form of palladium amounting to 89.4% of global palladium exports during 2023. Semi-manufactured palladium reflects a much smaller portion at 10.6%, down from 17.7% in 2022.
Overall Palladium Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of palladium in all forms during 2023.
- Russia: US$4.4 billion (23% of total palladium exports)
- United States: $2.93 billion (15.3%)
- South Africa: $2.93 billion (15.3%)
- United Kingdom: $2.4 billion (12.7%)
- Italy: $1.4 billion (7.4%)
- Germany: $1.2 billion (6.5%)
- Belgium: $1.1 billion (5.8%)
- Hong Kong: $507.1 million (2.6%)
- Japan: $464.2 million (2.4%)
- Switzerland: $375.7 million (2%)
- Norway: $283.2 million (1.5%)
- South Korea: $279.9 million (1.46%)
- Canada: $264.8 million (1.38%)
- Armenia: $112.3 million (0.59%)
- France: $101.5 million (0.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.4% of all palladium exported in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing palladium exporters since 2019 were: Hong Kong (up 353.1%), South Korea (up 318.9%), France (up 44.0%) and Japan (up 13.4%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported palladium sales were led by: Switzerland (down -73.9% from 2019), United Kingdom (down -38.8%), Germany (down -38.3%) and Canada (down -25.8%).
Top 15 Exporters of Raw Palladium
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of unprocessed or powder palladium during 2023.
- Russia: US$4.4 billion (25.5% of raw palladium exports)
- United States: $2.8 billion (16.3%)
- United Kingdom: $2.32 billion (13.5%)
- South Africa: $2.26 billion (13.1%)
- Italy: $1.4 billion (8.1%)
- Belgium: $1.1 billion (6.5%)
- Germany: $847.8 million (4.9%)
- Hong Kong: $471 million (2.7%)
- Japan: $416.6 million (2.4%)
- Norway: $281.9 million (1.6%)
- South Korea: $269.6 million (1.6%)
- Switzerland: $199.1 million (1.2%)
- Armenia: $112.3 million (0.7%)
- Austria: $72.8 million (0.4%)
- France: $62.8 million (0.4%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.1% of all raw palladium including powdered versions exported in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing exporters of raw palladium since 2019 were: South Korea (up 415.4%), Austria (up 352%), Hong Kong (up 351.9%) and France (up 37.6%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported raw palladium sales were led by: Switzerland (down -76.9% from 2019), Germany (down -52.9%), Belgium (down -20.7%) and the United Kingdom (down -13.9%).
Top 15 Exporters of Semi-Manufactured Palladium
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of semi-manufactured palladium during 2023.
- South Africa: US$675.7 million (33.3% of semi-manufactured palladium exports)
- Germany: $400.7 million (19.8%)
- Canada: $263.9 million (13%)
- Switzerland: $176.6 million (8.7%)
- United States: $135.6 million (6.7%)
- United Kingdom: $113.5 million (5.6%)
- Japan: $47.7 million (2.4%)
- France: $38.7 million (1.9%)
- Hong Kong: $36.1 million (1.8%)
- Italy: $26.2 million (1.29%)
- Russia: $20.9 million (13%)
- Spain: $19.6 million (0.97%)
- Australia: $18 million (0.89%)
- South Korea: $10.3 million (0.51%)
- Singapore: $8.3 million (0.41%)
By value, the listed top 15 countries shipped 98.3% of all semi-manufactured palladium exported in 2023.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing exporters of semi-manufactured palladium since 2019 were: Russia (up 1,888%), Australia (up 1,079%), Spain (up 444.7%) and Hong Kong (up 369.3%).
Major suppliers that posted declines in their exported semi-manufactured palladium sales were led by: United Kingdom (down -91.2% from 2019), United States of America (down -75.4%), Switzerland (down -69.5%) and Singapore (down -69.2%).
Global Palladium Miners
According to MiningFeeds.com, the following mining companies represent established players engaged in the international palladium trade. Their home country is shown within parenthesis.
- Eastern Platinum Limited (Canada)
- Lonmin plc (United Kingdom)
- North American Palladium Ltd (Canada)
- Resource and Investment NL (Australia)
- Solitario Exploration & Royalty (United Kingdom)
- Stillwater Mining Co. (United States)
- Thundelarra Exploration Ltd (Australia)
- Zimplats Holdings Ltd (Australia)
See also Gold Exports by Country, Silver Exports by Country, Platinum Exports by Country and Uranium Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 3, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Mining Feeds, Palladium Mining Companies Listed in All Countries. Accessed on November 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Palladium. Accessed on November 3, 2024