Catalytic converter values are up, not flat. Platinum has gained 41.3 percent over twelve months and 14.8 percent in the past month alone, palladium is up 31.5 percent, and rhodium is quoted at $8,850 an ounce. A converter containing three grams of platinum, 1.5 grams of palladium and 0.3 grams of rhodium holds about $337 of metal today against roughly $231 twelve months ago.
Scrap Price Today market analysis, written from exchange settlement data, mill and refiner pricing practice and published policy documents. Figures are examples; today’s numbers are on the live scrap price board.
This page previously said converter prices had been broadly flat while copper rallied. That was wrong, and we have rebuilt it from the underlying price data. The correction matters, because anyone who read the earlier version might have sold a converter believing timing made no difference.
What the three metals have actually done
Our benchmark layer pulls platinum and palladium from NYMEX daily. Rhodium has no exchange, so we use a refiner’s published price, which we reviewed and updated to the current level while preparing this article.
| Platinum | Palladium | Rhodium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement | USD per troy ounce, exchange settled | USD per troy ounce, exchange settled | USD per troy ounce, refiner published price |
| Today | $1,895.60 | $1,422.50 | $8,850 |
| One month | +14.8% | +9.2% | Rose from $8,250 to $8,850 through August |
| Three months | -1.4% | +4.5% | Broadly firm |
| Twelve months | +41.3% | +31.5% | Sharply higher |
| 52-week high | $2,852.40, set in late January | $2,169.90, set in late January | Above current levels earlier in the year |
| 52-week low | $1,356.40, twelve months ago | $1,104.60, twelve months ago | Below current levels |
The shape is unusual and worth understanding. Platinum and palladium both peaked on the same day in late January, fell hard through the spring, and have spent the last month climbing again. A converter sold in February and an identical one sold today would have fetched very different money.
What that means in grams
Converter buyers pay for contained metal, so the arithmetic is straightforward once you know the loading. Take a mid-range original unit holding three grams of platinum, 1.5 grams of palladium and 0.3 grams of rhodium.
- Platinum: 3 grams at $60.94 a gram is about $182.80.
- Palladium: 1.5 grams at $45.73 a gram is about $68.60.
- Rhodium: 0.3 grams at $284.55 a gram is about $85.40.
- Total contained metal value: roughly $337.
Run the same unit at prices from twelve months ago and the platinum and palladium alone were worth about $184 against $251 today, a 36 percent gain before rhodium is counted.
Notice what that third line does. Rhodium is 0.3 grams out of 4.8, six percent of the metal by weight, and a quarter of the value. That is why a small change in one thinly traded price moves converter quotes more than any change in the other two.
Why you will not be offered $337
Contained metal value is not scrap value, and the gap is where most disputes at a counter come from.
A refiner pays for assayed metal less a refining charge and a recovery deduction, and settles days or weeks later. A collector buying from you works backwards from that number and takes a margin for handling, risk and the wait. Our article on how converter recycling works walks through each step.
What the calculation above gives you is a ceiling and a direction. If the metal in a unit like that is worth $337 and you are offered $60, the code was probably read as something else and it is worth asking which.
The rhodium problem, stated plainly
Platinum and palladium settle on an exchange every trading day. Rhodium does not. World production is measured in tens of tonnes a year and the market is too small to support a liquid contract, so refiners publish prices and those published prices differ from one another.
Our board carries the refiner reference and labels it as such rather than presenting it as a live market price. During this rebuild we found our own rhodium figure had fallen behind the published level and corrected it, which is exactly why the label matters.
If you are settling a commercial lot, get the rhodium number from your refiner in writing on the day. Do not take it from any website, this one included.
What the forecasters say, and how much to trust it
Two well-known precious metals consultancies published very different views for this year. One projected large gains across platinum and rhodium with palladium lagging; another forecast platinum in a $1,300 to $1,800 range, palladium between $950 and $1,500, and rhodium between $6,000 and $9,000.
Platinum is currently above the top of that second range and rhodium is near the top of it. That is not a criticism of the forecasters; it is a demonstration that a range published in January is a starting point, not a plan.
The useful part of both reports is the reasoning rather than the numbers: platinum has run a supply deficit for several years, palladium faces a shrinking petrol autocatalyst market, and rhodium demand falls slowly as internal combustion share declines while recycled supply keeps arriving.
What to do if you are holding a converter
- Identify the unit by its code before asking for a price, and photograph the stamp. The code decides more than the market does.
- Do not assume a quote from earlier in the year still stands. Platinum has moved almost 15 percent in a month.
- Ask the buyer when their rhodium reference was last updated and whether the price is per unit or by assay.
- On assay terms, ask which day’s metal prices apply to settlement. With rhodium this volatile, the settlement date is worth real money.
- Bring identification and proof of ownership; almost every market now requires it, as our note on converter laws explains.
- Never cut the unit open. An opened shell cannot be matched to its code and is priced as scrap steel.
Key numbers
- Platinum $1,895.60 an ounce, up 41.3 percent over twelve months; palladium $1,422.50, up 31.5 percent (Scrap Price Today series from NYMEX settlements).
- Both metals peaked in late January, platinum at $2,852.40 and palladium at $2,169.90, then fell before recovering through August.
- Rhodium quoted at $8,850 an ounce, having climbed from $8,250 at the start of August (refiner published price, 27 August).
- Contained metal in a three gram platinum, 1.5 gram palladium, 0.3 gram rhodium unit is worth roughly $337 at today’s prices.
- Rhodium is about six percent of that metal by weight and about a quarter of its value.
- A typical passenger car converter holds three to seven grams of platinum group metals in total (Recycled Materials Association and refiner data); platinum group supply data is published by the US Geological Survey.
How we produced these figures
Platinum and palladium come from our own daily series built on NYMEX settlements, with percentage changes measured between closes 21, 63 and 252 trading sessions apart. Gram values convert from troy ounces at 31.1035 grams. The loadings used in the worked example are a mid-range illustration, not a specification for any particular vehicle; real units vary widely and the code is what determines yours.
Rhodium is a refiner’s published price, not an exchange settlement, and is labelled that way everywhere it appears on this site.
We corrected two things while writing this: the claim that converter prices were flat, and our own rhodium reference. Both corrections are noted here rather than made quietly, in line with our editorial policy. Current figures are on the catalytic converter price page, and the live board covers the base metals in the rest of the vehicle.