Following the end of a six-week consultation, Fastmarkets has decided to change the criteria for settling the quarterly premium to the following:
- A minimum total quarterly transaction volume of 30,000 tonnes reported to Fastmarkets MB.
- Confirmed deals from multiple market participants which include at least one producer, one consumer and one trader.
Only when these criteria have been met and the majority of the market have agreed a quarterly benchmark will Fastmarkets publish the premium.
In line with this, Fastmarkets has updated and simplified its fallback procedures should the MJP benchmark fail to be concluded by the 15th of the first month of any quarter:
- If less than 30,000 tonnes of transacted volumes have been reported, Fastmarkets MB will publish an assessed benchmark based on deals reported as well as bids and offers, giving a weighted preference to reported transactions.
The changes will be implemented for the first-quarter 2021 settlement of the MJP premium.
The last MJP quarterly settlement price assessment with the previous methodology was on October 5, 2020.
The change is in the interests of capturing the maximum level of contractual liquidity in the near term, and potentially in the longer term.
Market dynamics have shifted this year and, in part due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, have resulted in fewer participants engaged in MJP quarterly contractual discussions, with some choosing not to take part at all.
Fastmarkets believes that there may be a longer-term move away from contractual volumes in favor of an increase in spot market activity.
To provide feedback on these specification methodology amendments or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact Karen Ng or Alice Mason by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Karen Ng/Alice Mason, re: MJP data submission.’
To see all Fastmarkets’ methodology and specification documents go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.
View the full methodology for the aluminium P1020A (MJP) quarterly premium, cif Japan here.
