Proposal to amend Fastmarkets’ methodology for premium iron ore indices

Fastmarkets is proposing to amend its iron ore indices methodology by exempting the calculation of the iron ore premium indices from the automatic 4% outlier filter, to provide a more accurate representation of market dynamics and a more comprehensive calculation of the premium indices.

February 13, 2023

By Jane Fan

Iron ore Pricing notice

Fastmarkets’ iron ore premium indices – such as the lump ore premium, pellet feed premium and pellet premium – track the small portion of the total price of the product above a base index. Premium indices are often small in absolute value terms, therefore a small change in premium level can result in a relatively large percentage change, which makes the automatic 4% outlier filter less effective in the calculation of the premium indices.

The proposed change in methodology is intended for the following iron ore premium indices:
MB-IRO-0010: Iron ore 63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao, US cents/dmtu
MB-IRO-0177: Iron ore 65% Fe blast furnace pellet premium, cfr Qingdao, $/tonne
MB-IRO-0187: Iron ore 67.5% Fe pellet feed premium, cfr Qingdao, $/tonne

All other iron ore indices will be unaffected by this proposal.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts from Monday February 13 and will end on Monday March 13. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on Thursday March 16.

To provide feedback on the proposal, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please email pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Shaun Tan/Jane Fan, re: Iron Ore Premium Index methodology.”

To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.

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