Get Started

PRICING NOTICE: Proposal to discontinue single numbers for base metals premiums

Metal Bulletin proposes to discontinue the publication of single numbers for its base metals premiums and instead continue to publish low-high premium assessments.

June 28, 2018
By Generic people page
Base metals Copper Pricing notice

The proposal to stop assessing single base metals premiums follows feedback from market participants and exchanges that these numbers are not widely used by the industry, who prefer to use the low-high premium assessments, in particular the midpoint of the ranges.

Currently, Metal Bulletin publishes 11 single number base metals premiums as listed below. For each of these prices, Metal Bulletin also publishes low-high premium assessments, which could be used instead of the single numbers should these be discontinued as proposed.

  • Aluminium P1020A premium, cif Shanghai, spot, $/tonne
  • Aluminium P1020A premium, cif MKP (Main Korean Ports), duty-free, spot, $/tonne
  • Aluminium P1020A premium, in-warehouse Rotterdam, duty-unpaid, spot, $/tonne 
  • Copper premium, Grade A cathode, in-warehouse Shanghai, spot, $/tonne 
  • Copper premium, Grade A cathode, cif Shanghai, spot, $/tonne 
  • Copper premium, Grade A cathode, cif South Korea, spot, $/tonne 
  • Copper premium, Grade A cathode, cif Leghorn (Italy), spot, $/tonne 
  • Nickel premium, 99.80% purity full plate, in-warehouse Shanghai, spot, $/tonne 
  • Nickel premium, 99.80% purity full plate, cif Shanghai, spot, $/tonne 
  • Zinc premium, 99.995% purity ingot, in-warehouse Shanghai, spot, $/tonne 
  • Zinc premium, 99.995% purity ingot, in-warehouse Singapore, spot, $/tonne 

For any data that currently uses a single number in its calculation process, Metal Bulletin would instead use the midpoint of the low-high range. This is the case for monthly averages and for the SHFE vs LME base metals arbitrage.

The consultation period for the discontinuation of these 11 premiums will end two months from the date of this pricing notice, on Friday August 24. Depending on feedback, changes will take place from Tuesday August 28.

To provide feedback on this consultation or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the low-high premium ranges, please contact Perrine Faye by email at: pricing@metalbulletin.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Perrine Faye, re: discontinuation of single numbers.”

To see all Metal Bulletin’s pricing methodology and specification documents go to https://www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodology.html.

What to read next
Launch of Aluminium P1020A, FOB Indonesia premium assessment: pricing notice
Fastmarkets has launched MB-AL-0424 Aluminium P1020A premium, fob Indonesia, $/tonne on July 9 due to an expected increase in Indonesia-origin aluminium exports. MB-AL-0424 Aluminium P1020A premium, fob Indonesia, $/tonneQuality: P1020A or 99.7 % Minimum Al purity (Si 0.10% max, Fe 0.20% max) in line with LME specifications. Ingot, T-bar, sowQuantity: Min 500 tonnesLocation: FOB IndonesiaTiming: […]
July 9, 2025
 · 
By Zachary Tia
Correction to Montreal steel scrap assessments on July 8
Information came to light that mill buying offers had been adjusted for July following Fastmarkets’ settlement of these prices on that date, leading to an incorrect published assessment for the following grades: MB-STE-0789 Steel scrap No1 heavy melting, consumer buying price, fob Montreal, Canadian $/net ton was previously published at C$245 ($179.41) per net ton, a C$10 […]
July 8, 2025
 · 
By Christian Willbern
Correction to refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein, fob Indonesia price assessment on July 7
Fastmarkets has corrected its daily AG-PLM-0012 refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein, fob Indonesia price assessment, which was published incorrectly on July 7 due to an input error.
July 8, 2025
 · 
By Min Jie Yaw
Extension of the consultation period for the launch of Nordic Sawn Timber export prices for Europe
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) […]
July 7, 2025
 · 
By Sanjoy Narayan
Extension of the consultation period on the proposal to discontinue PIX Sawn Timber Finland export indices
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 […]
July 7, 2025
 · 
By Tuomo Neuvonen
Clarification of methodology for MHP nickel payable indicator: pricing notice
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 […]
July 7, 2025
 · 
By Dylan Duan