Norilsk Nickel to Push Palladium Use

The Moscow Times reported that Norilsk Nickel’s (MCX:GMKN) board of directors has okayed a plan to promote palladium by encouraging its use in jewelry and cars.

As quoted in the market news:

In diversifying its sources of profit, Norilsk Nickel is aiming to reduce the impact that variations in nickel prices currently wield over the company’s returns, Andrei Shenk, an analyst at Investcafe, told Kommersant.

Shenk added that while promoting palladium, which accounted for 14.27 percent of the company’s revenue last year, is clearly in the company’s long-term interests, the nickel producer may not be able to commit sufficient resources to the project, given its financial obligations to shareholders. The company has pledged to invest $2 billion a year and yield $9 billion in dividends between 2012 and 2014.

Click here to read the full report from The Moscow Times.