Rhodium prices have made a sudden bounce with a flurry of inquiries that caused dealers who have material to increase their offers, trade sources have told Platts Wednesday. There are conflicting reports, however, about actual transactions taking place, even though Engelhard and Johnson Matthey have both increased their published prices by $50/oz.

Johnson Matthey increased its North American Daily price of rhodium to $6,075/oz on March 21 from $6,025/oz which had been unchanged since March 9. Prior that, the price was mostly in the $5,950-6,000/oz range. Engelhard has raised its published price to $6,100/oz from $6,050/oz, and dealers are quoting $6,050-6,100/oz.

"I think the market is moving up on a 150 oz-bid and nobody is offering anything," a trader said, adding: "Nobody is looking to selling anything at the moment because the metal is tight."

Said another: "I think there is no physical metal for sale; there is a lot of borrowing going on. People are concerned about supply from South Africa and Russia."

A producer source noted, however, that "there's a lot of good physical demand right now. People are trying to get whatever metal they can, and that's pushing up the price."

According to a market analyst, there is apparently some confusion over export licenses for Russian material. "I'm not sure what's going on in Russia, but people here are concerned about Russian supply," he said. "Russian material is the swing factor in the market because it represents about 15% of the world's supply."