Metal Bulletin 62% Fe iron ore index used to price Pilbara Blend Fines

The use of Metal Bulletin’s iron ore indices to price physical cargoes continues to expand, with a Pilbara Blend Fines cargo traded basis the Metal Bulletin 62% Fe iron ore index on an online platform on Thursday November 23.

A 170,000-tonne cargo of Pilbara Blend Fines traded at a premium of $1.20 per tonne to the January 2018 average of Metal Bulletin 62% Fe iron ore cfr China index on online trading platform globalOre on Thursday, market sources said. The cargo’s notional arrival period will be in January 2018.

Pilbara Blend Fines, produced by Rio Tinto, is the most-traded physical iron ore in the market.

Vale said last month that it will price 100% of its Carajás sales contracts based on Metal Bulletin’s 65% Fe iron ore index – part of initiatives intended to improve the prices it achieves for its products.

Metal Bulletin’s 62% Fe iron ore index was at $67.69 per tonne on November 23, an increase of $2.52 per tonne.