Palladium Price in 1979

In 1979, the price of palladium averaged $120 per troy ounce, up 90.5% from the year before. This page covers the 1979 average, high, low, and year-end close, the events that moved the market, and what that palladium would be worth in today's dollars.

1979 Average

$120

Annual average, USD/oz

Change vs 1978

+90.5%

from $63 in 1978

What happened to the palladium price in 1979

Palladium averaged $120 per troy ounce in 1979, surging 90.5% from the $63 average of 1978. Annual moves of that size are rare and put 1979 among the most explosive years in the metal's modern history. The defining story of 1979: Precious-metals mania (Iran revolution / Hunt-silver era); palladium up ~90%.

In the 1970s palladium was still a minor precious metal used mainly in electronics and dentistry. It rode the decade's commodity booms and the 1979-80 precious-metals mania, but its defining demand driver, the automotive catalytic converter, was only just emerging.

Adjusted for inflation, palladium's 1979 average of $120 equals about $533 in today's dollars. The conversion uses US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U annual averages, so treat it as a close approximation rather than an exact figure.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the price of palladium in 1979?

Palladium averaged $120 per troy ounce in 1979, based on LBMA and USGS annual average data. That average was up 90.5% from $63 in 1978.

What is a 1979 palladium price worth in today's dollars?

Adjusted with the US Consumer Price Index, palladium's 1979 average of $120 works out to roughly $533 in today's dollars, using 2025 as the CPI base year. The conversion uses BLS CPI-U annual averages, so treat it as a close approximation rather than an exact figure.

What moved the palladium price in 1979?

The defining story of 1979: Precious-metals mania (Iran revolution / Hunt-silver era); palladium up ~90%. Against that backdrop, the annual average climbed 90.5%, from $63 in 1978 to $120.

Annual averages are USGS/Engelhard producer prices (1970 to 1988) and LBMA palladium prices (1989 to 2025) per troy ounce in US dollars. Where daily data exists, the per-year high, low, and close come from MetalCharts historical data. Inflation adjustments use BLS CPI-U annual averages.