Fastmarkets has amended the specifications of its standard-grade cobalt price assessment to include grade-1 and grade-2 Norilsk cut cathodes within its list of accepted cobalt brands.
Market feedback suggests both grades of cobalt cut cathodes produced by Norilsk are now commonly accepted by consumers of cobalt and are regularly traded in the spot market. As such, feedback supports their formal inclusion within the standard-grade assessment.
Due to the presence of some off-grade units in the market relating to early production, Fastmarkets will take account of Norilsk cut cathodes produced since the beginning of 2019, as per the original consultation notice dated April 30.
Data submitted in relation to Norilsk cut cathodes (as with all other data received as part of its price discovery) is considered as part of a reporter’s expert judgment under which outliers are excluded from the price assessment. As with all data submitted to Fastmarkets’ price discovery, reporters may ask for additional documentation to confirm the details of trades or other data submitted.
The amendment above takes effect from today, Friday May 31. Full specifications for the standard-grade cobalt price assessment are as follows:
Assessment: Standard-grade cobalt, in-warehouse Rotterdam, $/lb
Quality: Standard-grade cobalt metal, 99.8% minimum cobalt content. Standard production of the following brands: Chambishi broken cathodes, CTT broken cathodes, Katanga cathodes, Minara briquettes, Ambatovy briquettes, Norilsk cut cathodes (grade 1 and grade 2 – production since January 2019)
Min lot size: 1 tonne
Max lot size: 100 tonnes
Location: Rotterdam
Timing: Within 30 days, other terms normalized
Unit: US$ per lb
Form: Broken cathodes, briquettes, cut cathodes, original packaging
Payment terms: Cash; other terms normalized
Publication: Twice weekly. Wednesday and Friday, at 3pm London time
All historical data relating to this price prior to the amendment will remain available in the pricing section of the Fastmarkets MB website.
To provide feedback on this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Charlotte Radford by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading FAO: Charlotte Radford re: cobalt price assessments
To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents go to
https://www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodology.html.