PRICING NOTICE: Launch of spot 65% Fe iron ore pellet premium index quoted over 65% Fe fines

Fastmarkets will, on Friday May 7, launch a new weekly price index for the premium that high-quality 65% Fe blast furnace grade iron ore pellet commands on a spot basis above the 65% Fe Fines index.

Following a two-month consultation during which favorable feedback was received, Fastmarkets will launch a standalone pellet premium index reflecting the premium that high-quality international pellets achieve over its 65% Fe fines Index on a cfr China spot basis. This will replace its existing implied pellet premium (MB-IRO-0150), which will henceforth be discontinued.

This new launch aims to satisfy demand from market participants to more clearly and transparently track the premium that higher-quality international pellets can achieve on a cfr China spot basis, where they are most commonly traded with a fixed premium negotiated to the Fastmarkets 65% Fe fines Index. China’s growing appetite for higher-quality iron ore, including pellets, is seeing an increase in the frequency of top-tier pellet cargoes being sold on this basis that market participants expect will continue into the future.

The specifications for the new pellet premium index are as follows:

MB-IRO-0177 – Iron ore pellet premium over 65% Fe fines, cfr China
Quality: Fe: base 65%, min 64.5%; Si: base 4.5%, max 6.0%; Al: base 0.4%, max 0.6%; P: base 0.03%, max 0.05%; S: base 0.01%, max 0.02%; Moisture: base 2.0%, max 3.0%; CCS: base 230 daN, min 220 daN; Sizing: <5% <5.0mm
Quantity: min 10,000 tonnes
Location: cfr Qingdao (other main sea ports normalized)
Timing: delivery within eight weeks
Unit: $ per dry metric tonne
Publication: Weekly on Friday, 6.30pm Singapore time

To provide feedback on this launch, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter, please contact Peter Hannah by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Peter Hannah re: Launch of Pellet Premium Index’

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

What to read next
Fastmarkets has had a strong interest in the proposed new assessments and would like to gather additional information on the specification and grades that should assess.  Based on the feedback, the proposed specifications have been updated as follows:  Quality: Selected Nordic (Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian) export grades of both planed and rough sawn timber spruce (whitewood) […]
While Fastmarkets understands that the PIX sawn timber FAS Finland indices have not been widely adopted by the industry, we have received feedback that there is commercial use for the indices. Therefore, we propose to maintain them for the time being.  The following indices are affected:  The extended consultation period for this proposed discontinuation starts […]
To increase the transparency of our methodology, Fastmarkets clarifies that the quotation period of the MHP nickel payable indicator is the month of delivery, or the month M. Any data points Fastmarkets received otherwise will be normalized to the M month based on the monthly spreads of the prevailing exchange-traded Class-1 nickel reference price, or […]
Following an initial consultation with the market and a review of the typical data sets that have been collected over recent months, Fastmarkets is proposing changes to the specifications of the index for MB-IRO-0009 iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao, by raising the silica base specification to 2.7% from 2.2%, as well as an […]
Despite the current headwinds, strategic partnerships and continued investment in the right areas, coupled with the underlying strong long-term demand fundamentals, will pave the way for success for lithium producers, according to the participants of the executive panel during the Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference, which took place from June 23-26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The US and Europe must adopt long-term, consistent policies and should learn lessons from China, according to lithium industry experts speaking at Fastmarkets’ Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference in Las Vegas, US, over June 22-25.