Platinum Eagles Sold Out and Suspended

Over the past few weeks, platinum has staged an impressive come back. Since the beginning of the month, the price of platinum has risen from a low of $1,850 per ounce to today's price of $2,142. The recent rise has caused suspensions and sell outs for some of the US Mint's platinum products.

On Friday, the US Mint suspended sales of the 2008 Platinum Eagle 4 Coin Proof Set. This set contains 1.85 ounces of platinum and was priced at $4,119.95. The sets just went on sale May 5, 2008, so the suspension comes after only two weeks. The individual proof options remain available for sale.

The remaining ordering options for the 2007-W Burnished Platinum Eagles are no longer available for sale. The one ounce and one-tenth ounce individual coins went back on sale at the Mint in early May, following a long suspension. These now appear to be sold out, since the product pages state "Product Not Available" rather than the precious metals related suspension message.

Will 2008 be a repeat of last years perpetual suspensions and repricings? Global supply and demand indicators still seem to be aligned in that direction. As mentioned in Coin Update, Johnson Matthey recently released their 2008 Platinum Report. According to the report, demand exceeded supply by 480,000 ounces for 2007. In their outlook they predicted a continued deficit for 2008. The full report can be found here.