Until the early 1980's, producer prices for platinum were set by the two largest South Aftrican mine operators. They offered major industrial users long term contracts at prices supposedly refective of long-term fundamentsals. Recently, however, free market pricing has become increasingly common.

Platinum futures have been traded on the NYMEX since 1956. Use of this market by commercial hedgers to limit their exposure to adverse price movements and by investors seeking trading opportunities increased the level of open interest to a record 31,000 contracts in Septmenber 1986.

Dealer prices reflect the response of the leading trading houses to short- term market conditions. They are closely related to NYMEX futures prices because they are influenced by the same variables, and dealer hedging is a major factor in NYMEX trading.