Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K., Japan's biggest precious metals retailer, said sales of platinum bars to local investors more than tripled in the first half from a year earlier as lower prices boosted demand.
Sales in the first six months soared 263 percent as yen-based prices for platinum bars slumped 48 percent to an average ¥3,477 a gram, the company said in a faxed statement Wednesday.
Japan is the world's second-largest consumer of the metal after China. Global platinum prices for immediate delivery have fallen 42 percent in the past year as the recession reduced demand from automakers and the jewelry industry.
"With lower prices, platinum sales jumped on an increase in interest by individual investors," Tanaka said in the statement. The company doesn't disclose sales volume figures.
Tanaka's purchases of platinum bars from investors declined 82 percent, compared with the first half of 2008, when investors sold the metal to take advantage of a rally in prices to a record.