Extension of open consultation on iron ore indices

Fastmarkets invited feedback from the industry on the pricing methodology for its iron ore indices, via an open consultation process between March 2 and March 31, 2022. This consultation was done as part of our published annual methodology review process.

April 6, 2022

By Jane Fan

The consultation, sought to ensure that our methodology continues to reflect the physical markets for the iron ore indices they cover, in compliance with the principles of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) for price reporting agencies (PRAs). This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequencies.

Full details of the prices covered by this consultation can be found here.

You can find the current methodology for our iron ore indices here.

The consultation closed on March 31, with comments and feedback received suggesting that some material changes may indeed be required to the existing methodology. These included suggestions to increase the frequency of publication of Fastmarkets’ index for Iron ore 66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao, $/tonne [MB-IRO-0013] from weekly to daily, and suggestions to launch standalone concentrate premium index to iron ore 65% Fe fines on a cfr China basis.

In response to these suggestions, Fastmarkets has decided to extend this open consultation by one month to source more market feedback prior to deciding to launch a separate formal consultation on a potential change.

Fastmarkets will publish the outcome of this extension of its annual review by May 9, including a summary of the feedback unless marked as confidential. Any proposals to make material changes, discontinue or launch prices will involve a separate market consultation, the length of which will depend on how substantial the change is.

Please send responses in writing, preferably in electronic format, to the following address: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Jane Fan, re: Iron Ore Indices Methodology annual review, 2022.’ Please specify if your response is confidential. Opinions offered in confidential responses may be referenced but will not be attributed in any way.

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