PRICING NOTICE: Amendment to specifications of standard-grade cobalt price assessment

Fastmarkets has amended the specifications of its standard-grade cobalt price assessment to include grade-1 and grade-2 Norilsk cut cathodes within its list of accepted cobalt brands.

Fastmarkets has amended the specifications of its standard-grade cobalt price assessment to include grade-1 and grade-2 Norilsk cut cathodes within its list of accepted cobalt brands.

Market feedback suggests both grades of cobalt cut cathodes produced by Norilsk are now commonly accepted by consumers of cobalt and are regularly traded in the spot market. As such, feedback supports their formal inclusion within the standard-grade assessment.

Due to the presence of some off-grade units in the market relating to early production, Fastmarkets will take account of Norilsk cut cathodes produced since the beginning of 2019, as per the original consultation notice dated April 30.

Data submitted in relation to Norilsk cut cathodes (as with all other data received as part of its price discovery) is considered as part of a reporter’s expert judgment under which outliers are excluded from the price assessment. As with all data submitted to Fastmarkets’ price discovery, reporters may ask for additional documentation to confirm the details of trades or other data submitted.

The amendment above takes effect from today, Friday May 31. Full specifications for the standard-grade cobalt price assessment are as follows:

Assessment: Standard-grade cobalt, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/lb
Quality: Standard-grade cobalt metal, 99.8% minimum cobalt content. Standard production of the following brands: Chambishi broken cathodes, CTT broken cathodes, Katanga cathodes, Minara briquettes, Ambatovy briquettes, Norilsk cut cathodes (grade 1 and grade 2 – production since January 2019)
Min lot size: 1 tonne
Max lot size: 100 tonnes
Location: Rotterdam
Timing: Within 30 days, other terms normalized
Unit: US$ per lb
Form: Broken cathodes, briquettes, cut cathodes, original packaging
Payment terms: Cash; other terms normalized
Publication: Twice weekly. Wednesday and Friday, at 3pm London time

All historical data relating to this price prior to the amendment will remain available in the pricing section of the Fastmarkets MB website.

To provide feedback on this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Charlotte Radford by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading FAO: Charlotte Radford re: cobalt price assessments

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents go to
https://www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodology.html.

What to read next
Fastmarkets proposes to launch Nordic sawn timber export prices for selected European markets and grades, while discontinuing the PIX Sawn Timber FAS Finland indices. The PIX sawn timber FAS Finland indices have not been widely adopted by the industry and the new price assessments will offer more end-market-specific data for major European markets and will […]
To increase transparency, Fastmarkets has further clarified how it handles price movements during periods of low liquidity. Factors that Fastmarkets may consider during times of low liquidity include, but are not limited to: market fundamentals such as changes in inventory levels, shipments, operating rates and export volumes; relative fundamentals of similar commodities in the same […]
Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for PIX Packaging GCC indices via an open consultation process between April 16 and May 14, 2025. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process. Full details of the prices covered by this consultation can be found here. No feedback […]
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for the PIX Forest Biomass Finland price indices, as part of its announced annual methodology review process. This consultation, which is open until June 12, 2025, seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in compliance with the […]
The publication of the following price was delayed for 10 minutes: MB-ALU-0002 Alumina index, fob Australia, $/tonne This price is a part of the Fastmarkets Base Metals package. For more information or to provide feedback on the delayed publication of this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter […]
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of Taiwan base metals prices from biweekly to monthly, and the delivery timing for the tin 99.99% ingot premium from two weeks to four weeks.