LONDON, May 15. /TASS/. The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) projects a record platinum deficit in more than half a century this year, particularly, due to unstable production in top producer South Africa, the Financial Times wrote on Monday.

"It would be a record deficit in ounces since records going back to the 1970s," Edward Sterck, director of research at WPIC, was quoted as saying.

Ailing output, exacerbated by stuttering electricity supply in South Africa, has pushed the WPIC to revise its deficit forecast up 77% from three months ago, to 983,000 ounces this year, the paper said. Global platinum demand is forecast to surge 28% this year to 8.2 mln ounces after investors piled in, adding to strong industrial consumption and increasing use of the metal in car catalytic converters in the first quarter, according to FT.