PRICING NOTICE: Proposal to amend minimum tonnage for ferro-tungsten in-warehouse Rotterdam price assessment

At present, Fastmarkets’ minimum lot size for its in-warehouse Rotterdam ferro-tungsten price assessment is 5 tonnes.

A reduction in the minimum tonnage requirement would allow a larger number of deals to be captured by the price assessment, since an increasing number of smaller tonnage deals is being reported to Fastmarkets. In addition, the spot market for larger volume deals has become smaller in recent years because mills are committing more of their requirements to long-term contracts.

Fastmarkets is proposing to decrease its minimum tonnage for in-warehouse Rotterdam ferro-tungsten deal sizes to 3 tonnes and invites opinions from market participants on whether the proposed minimum lot size best reflects the dynamics of the ferro-tungsten market.

The current specifications are as follows:

Assessment: Ferro-tungsten basis 75% W Rotterdam duty unpaid $/kg W
Dimensions: Lump
Quality: W: 75.00% min. C: 0.40% max. S: 0.08% max. Mn: 0.50% max. As:0.10% max. Sn: 0.08% max. P:0.05% max. Si: 0.70% max. Cu: 0.15% max. Sb: 0.05% max.
Quantity: Minimum 5-tonne lots
Location: Rotterdam duty-unpaid
Unit: USD per kg W
Payment terms: Cash, other payment terms normalized
Publication: Twice weekly. Wednesday and Friday 2-3pm London time

The consultation will end one month from the date of this pricing notice, on Friday November 30. Subject to market feedback, changes will take place from Wednesday December 5.

There will be no changes to the publishing time and dates of the proposed assessment.

All Fastmarkets price specifications define the minimum lot size accepted.

The goal of a minimum tonnage is to exclude any deal that, because of its small size/high price, could add bias to the Fastmarkets published price. At the same time, the minimum tonnage must be as low as possible so that the number of deals excluded is the smallest.

Fastmarkets will continue to use its expert judgement to exclude data that it considers to be an outlier, as set out in Fastmarkets’ price methodology document.

To provide feedback on this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, contact Ewa Manthey by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Ewa Manthey, RE: Min lot size for in-warehouse Rotterdam ferro-tungsten price”.

Click here to see all of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents.