An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 29, 2014) titled “Platinum Skids on Car-Demand Worries” describes the recent price drop for platinum and traces the volatility of prices of the metal recently.  A strike in a South African mine created supply worries and drove up prices. But the flat to declining demand for autos in Europe and Japan, a sector that accounts for 38% of world demand for platinum, along with steady exports from Russia have created worries of oversupply, thus driving prices down. Will the low prices for platinum create a demand for the metal as investors switch from gold to platinum ? Will its use in the auto industry increase from countries like China ? Or will mines decrease their output to get the system back in sync ?