If true, this should be a positive impact on p prices....Does anyone here own Stillwater said to be the only US miner of palladium and platinum? Symbol?

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Russia, the world’s biggest palladium producer, may have exhausted state inventories of the metal, removing a key source of global supply, according to OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel.

Sales from state stockpiles reached 960,000 ounces last year, the third-biggest contributor to world supply after mine output from South Africa and Russia, according to Johnson Matthey Plc. The scale of the government’s stockpiles of the metal used in auto catalysts, electronics and jewelry are a state secret. Norilsk is the world’s biggest producer.

“Judging by indirect indicators, we suppose that the government stockpiles of palladium are gone,” Norilsk’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Viktor Sprogis said in an interview in London yesterday. “Thus we, as well as other major platinum- group metal producers, think this factor will no longer affect the market. But as this kind of information is classified, we can’t say it with certainty.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=a13w9iGuk1Og