PRICING NOTICE: Amendment of specification of cobalt hydroxide payable indicator

Following a one-month consultation period that ended on Friday July 5, Fastmarkets has amended the payment window to include trades agreed on the basis of the following month’s average metal price (M+1).

Previously, the payment window only included trades agreed on the basis of the current month (M).

The amendment will take place on Monday July 15 when the twice-monthly cobalt hydroxide payables indicator is next published.

Following the amendment, the specification for the payable indicator is as follows:

Assessment: Cobalt hydroxide payable indicator, min 30% Co, cif China, % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low end)
Quality: Chemical composition, min 30% cobalt
Quantity: Min 50 tonnes (cobalt content)
Location: cif China (other terms normalized)
Timing: 45 days
Unit: % payable of Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low end, $/lb)
Payment terms: Letter of credit, current and following price month (‘M’ and ‘M+1’)
Publication: Twice a month on the 15th and last working day of the month, 3pm London time. (Where the publication day falls on a weekend or a public holiday in England and Wales, the assessment will be published on the closest working day preceding that date)
Notes: Material produced at Katanga, Mutanda and Tenke in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fastmarkets will review the chemical and brand specifications of its cobalt hydroxide prices in August 2019, with the benefit of six months of pricing data.

Since the calculation of Fastmarkets’ cobalt hydroxide index – a single figure expressing the price is US dollars per lb – requires the monthly average cobalt metal price if the spot indications and assessments are given as payables, there is no change to the index specification.

To provide feedback on the above amendment or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the cobalt hydroxide reference prices, please contact Charlotte Radford and Susan Zou by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Charlotte Radford/Susan Zou, re: cobalt hydroxide price assessment.’

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