Conclusion of consultation on Fastmarkets alumina indices

The consultation, which closed on December 5, sought market feedback on a complaint which recommended the discontinuation of the Fastmarkets alumina indices.

The consultation received extensive feedback from key markets participants, and no further complaints were raised about the robustness or impartiality of the alumina indices.

Based on the feedback received, Fastmarkets will not discontinue the publication of the daily fob Western Australia and the fortnightly fob Brazil differential indices.

Respondents raised no concerns about antitrust, and said they were not aware of any examples of manipulation. Responses said that although there can be seasonal illiquidity in the alumina market, the alumina indices provide a fair representation of the actual market level.

Participants also told Fastmarkets they are using the indices as the basis for physical market contracts and they are important pricing tools.

Fastmarkets will continue to review its methodology on an ongoing basis, and formally on an annual basis. Fastmarkets encourages open dialogue with market participants on all aspects of its alumina methodology, including – but not restricted to – low liquidity measures, normalization processes, and criteria for discarding price data.

Fastmarkets would also like to highlight the daily rationale it publishes alongside each pricing session which can be found on the Price Book/Fastmarkets Platform. The pricing rationale gives information about the data reported, any uses of editorial judgement, uses of fallback procedures or data discarded under the methodology’s automatic outlier feature.

Please find an example of a rationale on a pricing day (November 5, 2021) when a deal was reported but discarded using our editorial judgement:

Index declines to $433.25/t from $438.56/t the previous day.
One consumer assessed the market at $420/t. One trader saw it at $432/t, a second at $435/t and two more at $438/t.
One producer saw it at $438/t and a second saw it at $445/t.
Two assessments at $400/t were discarded by the index’s automatic outlier feature.
One deal was discarded because in our judgement it was not representative of the open and competitive market.
Three participants reported a deal heard at $634/t cif Ghana but were discarded because in our judgement it was not representative of the open and competitive market.
Any data reported under a Data Submitter Agreement will not be published.
Index continues to dip with lower assessments in the market. One deal heard on a cif Ghana basis at $634/t.
Participants note freight netback would be around $100/t but add that deals to Ghana can trade at a premium. Deal was also with 5 days prior payment terms.
Market continues to watch LME aluminium price which is at $2,572.50/t.
Participants also note buying demand is limited. Wide range of market assessments in recent pricing sessions, some as low as $400/t and others at $445/t.

An example of a rationale on a pricing day (November 02, 2021) when a deal was copied over from the previous session, in-line with the transaction linked methodology:

Index declines to $449.64/t from $450.12/t the previous day.
One consumer assessed the market at $440/t. One producer saw it at $450/t and a second at $455/t.
One trader assessed the market at $450/t and two more at $447.50/t.
One deal for 30,000t at $450/t was carried over from the previous session, in line with our transaction linked methodology.
Index remains close to last deal level at $450/t. More participants now assessing market below $450/t with continued bearishness in the market due to low LME aluminium price. LME 3M aluminium price most recently at $2,717/t down from a high of $3,229/t on Oct 18. Participants note lack of buying demand from consumers, which is also pressuring alumina prices.

To provide comment or feedback on the content of the alumina methodology, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these indices, please email pricing@fastmarkets.com.

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