Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST, ETR:CTO) has added a third precious metal to its offering: platinum.
After seeing high demand for its gold and silver items, the membership warehouse club has added two platinum products to its online store.
The first is a one ounce ‘Fortuna’ platinum bar, minted by the Swiss precious metals refiner PAMP for US$1,0899.99.
It is also selling a one ounce platinum bullion Canada Maple Leaf coin, struck in 99.95 fine platinum by the Royal Canadian Mint.
The platinum bars and coins can only be purchased by Costco loyalty members and cannot be delivered to Louisiana, Nevada or Puerto Rico.
Costco began selling precious metals starting with one-ounce gold bars in August of last year for about US$2,000.
During the company’s earnings in September, then CFO Richard Galanti noted significant interest in the gold bars, adding that: “When we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours.”
Wells Fargo in April estimated that the retailer was selling as much as $200 million worth of gold bars per month.
The price of gold has risen an impressive 45% in the last year, but platinum has risen just 15% over the same period.