Amendments to aluminium P1020A MJP spot premium methodology

Following a month-long consultation period, Fastmarkets has amended the methodology for the bi-weekly assessment of the aluminium P1020A main Japanese ports (MJP) spot premium, to include domestic tenders and deals from the Japanese market.

Fastmarkets has also extended the delivery window to two calendar months from six weeks. Both changes were made to increase the pool of liquidity.

The assessment concerned is:
MB-AL-0343 aluminium P1020A (MJP) spot premium, cif Japan, $ per tonne

Through the consultation process, Fastmarkets received feedback from market participants that the inclusion of domestic tenders and deals would improve the liquidity in the premium, which is assessed on a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) incoterm basis.

The majority of participants in the consultation process were aligned in the view that domestic tenders and deals would provide further supporting information to the pricing process. But deals concluded on a CIF basis, in line with the full specifications, would be seen as data with greater significance during the price assessment process.

Fastmarkets will normalize domestic deals and tenders back to CIF MJP by asking data contributors for their own net-backs. Fastmarkets will also use its own estimates of trucking costs, exchange rates, payment terms and warehouse costs to normalize the data.

In a situation where prices cannot be normalized with sufficient confidence or precision, such data may be discarded from the assessment.

Fastmarkets will also use the Bank of Japan’s published foreign exchange spot rate at 17:00 Japan Standard Time on the day the deal was concluded, to ensure independence and objectivity.

Full details of data inputs before and after normalization will be stored in Fastmarkets’ electronic database, MinD, and may be accessed at any time for internal review and auditing purposes.

To provide feedback on this premium, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this assessment, please contact Chay Chye Leng by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO Chay Chye Leng re: Aluminium MJP spot methodology.”

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

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