Open consultation on cobalt sulfate, spodumene, graphite price assessments: pricing notice

The consultation, which is open until May 18, 2023, seeks to ensure that our audited methodologies and price specifications continue to reflect the physical markets for in compliance with the IOSCO principles for PRAs. This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequency.

The prices subject to this review are as follows:

MB-LI-0012 – Spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China, $/tonne
Quality: A mineral concentrate accepted by buyers for conversion in lithium chemicals used in battery applications (any size will be accepted) and with the following chemical composition: Li2O 6% (min 5.7 Li2O and max 6.1% Li2O accepted if it can be normalized to 6%); Fe2O3 < 1.3% (max 1.5% Fe2O3 accepted if it can be normalized to < 1.3%), H2O<10%
Quantity: 1,000 tonnes
Location: CIF China
Timing: 90 days
Unit: USD/tonne
Publication: Fortnightly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time

MB-CO-0017 – Cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China, yuan/tonne
Quality: Crystal; feed from cobalt ores & concentrates, cobalt intermediates, such as crude cobalt hydroxide (materials produced from cobalt scrap are excluded); chemical spec: Co: 20.5% min, Ni: 0.001% max, Cu: 0.001% max, Fe: 0.001% max, Zn: 0.001% max
Quantity: Min 1 tonne
Location: Ex-works China
Timing: Within 30 days
Unit: CNY/tonne
Payment terms: On bank acceptance (other payments normalized)
Publication: Twice weekly. Wednesday and Friday, between 2pm and 3pm London time

MB-GRA-0042 – Graphite flake 94% C, -100 mesh, fob China, $/tonne
Quality: Flake 94% C, -100 Mesh
Quantity: Min 20 tonnes
Location: FOB China, FCL
Unit: US$ per tonne
Publication: Weekly, Thursday by 4pm, London

MB-GRA-0036 – Graphite spherical 99.95% C, 15 microns, fob China, $/tonne
Quality: 99.95% C, 15 microns, uncoated
Quantity; Min 20 tonnes
Location: FOB China
Unit: US$ per tonne
Publication: Weekly, Thursday by 4pm London

You can find the current methodology documents for the above prices here.

To provide feedback on the annual review of the above-listed prices, please contact pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Jon Stibbs, Jingtai Lun re: audited IOSCO methodologies annual review.”

Please specify if your response is confidential. Opinions offered in confidential responses may be referenced, but will not be attributed in any way.

Fastmarkets will publish the outcome of this annual review by May 25, 2023, including a summary of the feedback – with the exception of those responses 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 for the industry.

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