Proposal to amend iron ore 62.5% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium name, specifications: pricing notice

Fastmarkets proposes to amend the name and base specifications of its index for MB-IRO-0010 iron ore 62.5% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao to more closely align with the specifications of Australia iron ore lump.

Following an initial consultation with the market, and a review of typical data sets that are collected over the recent months, the amendment also aims to ensure the index remains representative of the Australian-origin iron ore lumps in the CFR China spot market within the index specification range, including Pilbara Blend Lump and Newman Lump. 

The new specification would be as follows, with amendments in italics:

MB-IRO-0010 Iron ore 62% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao, US cents/dmtu
Quality: Fe content base 62%, range 61-65%; silica base 3.5%, max 5%; alumina base 1.5%, max 2%; phosphorus base 0.08%, max 0.10%; sulfur base 0.02%, max 0.04%; moisture base 4%, max 6.5%; granularity max 13.5%<6.3mm, max 25% >31.5mm
Quantity: Min 30,000 tonnes
Location: cfr Qingdao, normalized for any Chinese mainland seaport
Timing: Within 2-8 weeks
Unit: US cents/dmtu
Payment terms: Letters of Credit on sight, other terms normalized to base
Publication: Daily at 6:30pm Singapore time
Notes: Origin Australia only. Data history from May 2013.

This price is part of the Fastmarkets steelmaking raw materials package.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts from April 29 and will end on May 28. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on June 2.

To provide feedback on the proposal or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the index, please contact Alice Li by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Alice Li, re: Iron ore 62.5% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao”.

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

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

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