(Bloomberg) -- Palladium’s blistering rally shows no sign yet of cooling off as records tumble: the precious metal advanced to the highest ever on Friday as it climbed for an unprecedented 16th straight day.

Prices are now barreling toward $2,000 an ounce as mining disruptions in major producer South Africa add to supply concerns, tightening a market already hobbled by a persistent deficit.

Palladium is headed for a seventh quarterly climb as demand for the metal used in autocatalysts has been strengthened by tighter emissions rules, with Citigroup Inc. forecasting it could hit $2,500 an ounce next year. In South Africa, rolling blackouts have hurt miners’ operations after state utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. announced record power cuts.

Spot prices climbed as much as 1.3% to $1,965.82 an ounce, and traded at $1,960.93.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Singapore at rpakiam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Phoebe Sedgman at psedgman2@bloomberg.net, Jake Lloyd-Smith

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