* Rhodium prices slip to lowest since 2004 at $790/oz
* Perception of plentiful supply hurts platinum metals
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Rhodium prices slid to their lowest level in more than a decade on Friday, suffering along with other platinum group metals from perceptions that the metal, widely used in the car industry, is in plentiful supply.
Rhodium <RHOD-LON> fell to $790 an ounce on Friday, its weakest since March 2004, extending three months of declines.
Among its sister metals, platinum also reached its lowest in more than six years this week, and palladium its weakest since the middle of 2013.
All three have been under heavy selling pressure after failing to capitalise on an unprecedented five-month strike among platinum miners in major producer South Africa last year, which indicated availability of substantial above-ground stocks of the metals.
"Clearly there's a good deal of metal in the market. South African producers are back at full production, and they're getting as much metal out of the door as possible to improve their cash position," Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler said.
"(Rhodium) is a much more fundamental market than the other platinum group metals," he said. "I think where we are now reflects the lack of any significant bid in the market, or any significant industrial demand growth."
Rhodium prices have tended to be volatile over the last decade, rallying to a peak near $10,000 an ounce in 2008 before dropping sharply as the global financial crisis hit industrial metals demand.
Some 80 percent of global rhodium demand comes from the automotive sector, which uses the metal in catalytic converters. Most of the remainder is consumed by the chemical, electrical and glassmaking industries. (Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by Keith Weir)