PRICING NOTICE: Proposal to increase minimum tonnage for Shanghai nickel premium assessments

Metal Bulletin proposes to change the specifications of its Shanghai in-warehouse and cif nickel full-plate premiums to increase the minimum tonnage of transactions taken into consideration in the assessment process.

Metal Bulletin proposes to increase the minimum tonnage for a reported trade to 60 tonnes from the current 10 tonnes for all its Shanghai nickel full-plate premiums (one assessed range and one assessed single number for each cif and in-warehouse premium).

The proposed changes follow feedback from market participants and aim to align our prices with market standards with a view to ensuring the continuing relevance of our published premiums. Tonnage lower than 60 tonnes are understood to warrant higher premiums than standard terms due to greater costs.

Metal Bulletin also proposes to slightly amend the payment terms for its Shanghai nickel premiums to include more flexible payment methods that are frequently used in the trade of nickel full plates in Shanghai. The new proposed terms are “Cash against document, letter of credit (LC), telegraphic transfer (TT) or other terms normalised” compared with the current “Cash against document, other payment terms normalised”.

Metal Bulletin will also define a spot deal for Shanghai full plates as a transaction with a delivery window of two weeks for the in-warehouse bonded premium and six weeks for the cif premium assessment so as to better capture spot market transactions.

The implementation of the proposed changes is subject to the results of a market consultation.

The consultation period for this proposal will end on Thursday July 13. Pending the outcome of the consultation, changes will take place from Tuesday July 18 (the first pricing day for this price).

If you have any comments about these proposals or would like to contribute to these price assessments, please email pricing@metalbulletin.com.

If you have any questions about Metal Bulletin’s general pricing methodology and policy, please contact Metal Bulletin’s global base metals editor Perrine Faye at perrine.faye@metalbulletin.com.

Any comments that are intended to be confidential should be clearly marked as such.

Metal Bulletin will publish its decision on July 14 along with a summary of comments received and responses to those comments.

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