Energy Security and the Hydrogen Outlook
- Geopolitical disruptions, particularly in the Middle East, have highlighted energy security risks beyond oil and gas, impacting industrial supply chains like ammonia, urea, and methanol (p. 1).
  - The Middle East accounts for about one-sixth of global hydrogen production, over 25% of global ammonia trade, nearly 40% of urea trade, and around 45% of methanol trade (p. 1).
  - Disruptions in 2026 caused significant volatility, including an 80% spike in urea prices compared to pre-conflict levels (p. 1).
- Low-emissions hydrogen offers domestic production opportunities for countries with renewable resources, especially for existing applications like refining, ammonia, and methanol (pp. 1, 3).
- The low-emissions hydrogen industry remains small, expected to account for just over 1% of the projected 100Mt+ global hydrogen production in 2026 (p. 3).
Commercial Obstacles and Policy Shifts
- Hydrogen development continues to face high production costs, infrastructure constraints, uncertain offtake, and investment challenges (p. 3).
- Metals Focus forecasts 7.2GW of global electrolyser installations in 2026, compared to an originally planned pipeline of 20.8GW (p. 3).
- Governments are shifting from ambitious targets to selective support for projects with credible demand, financing, and commercial viability (p. 3).
Fuel-Cell Deployment and PGM Demand
- Energy resilience is driving fuel-cell deployment in critical facilities like data centres (p. 5).
- Metals Focus forecasts ~1GW of stationary and portable fuel-cell installations globally in 2026, with ~38% of stationary systems expected to use PGM-based technologies (p. 5).
- PGM demand from the hydrogen economy is projected to reach 154koz in 2026, representing an 18% year-over-year increase and a sevenfold increase from a decade ago (p. 5).
Precious Metals Market Briefs (August 2026)
- Gold prices rose above $4,450/oz following US Treasury plans to increase buybacks of longer-dated bonds (p. 1).
- India added a record 27GW of solar capacity in H1 2026, bringing its total installed PV capacity to 165GW by the end of June (p. 1).
- Global platinum ETP holdings reached a two-month high of 3,006koz (p. 1).
- Southern Palladium was granted a 30-year mining right for the Bengwenyama PGM and chrome project (p. 1).

Energy Security and the Hydrogen Outlook
- Geopolitical disruptions, particularly in the Middle East, have highlighted energy security risks beyond oil and gas, impacting industrial supply chains like ammonia, urea, and methanol (p. 1).
  - The Middle East accounts for about one-sixth of global hydrogen production, over 25% of global ammonia trade, nearly 40% of urea trade, and around 45% of methanol trade (p. 1).
  - Disruptions in 2026 caused significant volatility, including an 80% spike in urea prices compared to pre-conflict levels (p. 1).
- Low-emissions hydrogen offers domestic production opportunities for countries with renewable resources, especially for existing applications like refining, ammonia, and methanol (pp. 1, 3).
- The low-emissions hydrogen industry remains small, expected to account for just over 1% of the projected 100Mt+ global hydrogen production in 2026 (p. 3).
Commercial Obstacles and Policy Shifts
- Hydrogen development continues to face high production costs, infrastructure constraints, uncertain offtake, and investment challenges (p. 3).
- Metals Focus forecasts 7.2GW of global electrolyser installations in 2026, compared to an originally planned pipeline of 20.8GW (p. 3).
- Governments are shifting from ambitious targets to selective support for projects with credible demand, financing, and commercial viability (p. 3).
Fuel-Cell Deployment and PGM Demand
- Energy resilience is driving fuel-cell deployment in critical facilities like data centres (p. 5).
- Metals Focus forecasts ~1GW of stationary and portable fuel-cell installations globally in 2026, with ~38% of stationary systems expected to use PGM-based technologies (p. 5).
- PGM demand from the hydrogen economy is projected to reach 154koz in 2026, representing an 18% year-over-year increase and a sevenfold increase from a decade ago (p. 5).
Precious Metals Market Briefs (August 2026)
- Gold prices rose above $4,450/oz following US Treasury plans to increase buybacks of longer-dated bonds (p. 1).
- India added a record 27GW of solar capacity in H1 2026, bringing its total installed PV capacity to 165GW by the end of June (p. 1).
- Global platinum ETP holdings reached a two-month high of 3,006koz (p. 1).
- Southern Palladium was granted a 30-year mining right for the Bengwenyama PGM and chrome project (p. 1).

Could energy security strengthen hydrogen’s PGM demand outlook?

Interactive reader

Could energy security strengthen hydrogen’s PGM demand outlook?

Interactive reader