PRICING NOTICE: Amendment of criteria for aluminium P1020A (MJP) quarterly premium settlement

Fastmarkets will amend the settlement criteria for its MB-AL-0001 aluminium P1020A (MJP) quarterly premium, cif Japan, $ per tonne.

Following the end of a six-week consultation, Fastmarkets has decided to change the criteria for settling the quarterly premium to the following:

  • A minimum total quarterly transaction volume of 30,000 tonnes reported to Fastmarkets MB.
  • Confirmed deals from multiple market participants which include at least one producer, one consumer and one trader.

Only when these criteria have been met and the majority of the market have agreed a quarterly benchmark will Fastmarkets publish the premium.

In line with this, Fastmarkets has updated and simplified its fallback procedures should the MJP benchmark fail to be concluded by the 15th of the first month of any quarter: 

  • If less than 30,000 tonnes of transacted volumes have been reported, Fastmarkets MB will publish an assessed benchmark based on deals reported as well as bids and offers, giving a weighted preference to reported transactions.

The changes will be implemented for the first-quarter 2021 settlement of the MJP premium.

The last MJP quarterly settlement price assessment with the previous methodology was on October 5, 2020.

The change is in the interests of capturing the maximum level of contractual liquidity in the near term, and potentially in the longer term.

Market dynamics have shifted this year and, in part due to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, have resulted in fewer participants engaged in MJP quarterly contractual discussions, with some choosing not to take part at all.

Fastmarkets believes that there may be a longer-term move away from contractual volumes in favor of an increase in spot market activity.

To provide feedback on these specification methodology amendments or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact Karen Ng or Alice Mason by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Karen Ng/Alice Mason, re: MJP data submission.’

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

View the full methodology for the aluminium P1020A (MJP) quarterly premium, cif Japan here.

What to read next
Fastmarkets will amend the specifications of its existing price assessments for Europe/US lithium spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate to remove the US footprint, and will launch weekly price assessments for spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate for the United States and Canada on Thursday April 4.
The March 2024 monthly averages were published today based on the index values of March 1, 8, 15 and 22.
Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-STE-0034 steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe and MB-STE-0035 Steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe assessments, which were published incorrectly on Wednesday March 27.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ daily assessment for aluminium P1020A premium, ddp Midwest US was delayed on Wednesday March 27. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets' holiday pricing schedule for 2024 has been updated to reflect the change in the pricing frequency of its mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) cif China, Japan and South Korea (CJK) prices.
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodologies for its steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe, €/tonne (MB-STE-0028) and steel hot-rolled coil index, fob mill US Midwest, $/cwt (MB-STE-0184) as part of its annual methodology review process.