Proposal to amend load port of PHCC index assessment

Fastmarkets proposes to amend the load port named for the assessment of its index for Premium Hard Coking Coal, fob DBCT, to eastern Australian ports, from the current basis of Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, Australia.

Following an initial consultation with the market and a review of typical data sets collected over recent months, Fastmarkets now proposes to change the load port of its Premium Hard Coking Coal index to FOB eastern Australian ports.

This adjustment will enable Fastmarkets to track a broader range of data by incorporating major ports, including Hay Point Coal Terminal, Abbot Point Coal Terminal, Gladstone Port and Port Kembla, alongside the current Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal.

To ensure consistency of assessment, normalization of ports might be practised where necessary, based on market surveys.

The proposed new specifications are listed below, with the proposed amendment of load port in italics:

MB-COA-0003 Premium hard coking coal, fob eastern Australian ports, $ per wmt
Quality: CSR base 71%, min 67%; volatile matter (ad) base 21%, range 18-25%; ash (ad) base 9.50%, max 11%; sulfur (ad) base 0.50%, max 1.10%; CSN/FSI base 8, min 7; TM (ar) base 10%; mean max reflectance base 1.35%, range 1.10-1.60%; max fluidity base 500ddpm, min 40ddpm. Physical Size: <50mm
Quantity: Min 10,000 tonnes
Location: fob eastern Australian ports
Timing: Seaborne, laycan 16-60 days
Unit: USD per wet metric tonne
Payment terms: Letters of Credit on sight
Publication: Daily at 6.30pm Singapore time
Notes: All origins.

This index is part of the Fastmarkets steel raw materials prices package.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment will start on Friday October 18 and end on Monday November 25. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on Friday November 29.

To provide feedback on this proposed amendment, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this index, please contact Paul Lim, Jessie Li and Bella Cheng by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: “FAO: Jessie Li, re: PHCC index, fob Australia.”

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/methodology.

What to read next
Fastmarkets has amended its pricing holiday calendar to show Monday June 29, 2026 as a non-publishing day for Black Sea grains and oilseeds prices.
This consultation, which is open until July 27, 2026, seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequency. You can […]
Fastmarkets has corrected the rationale for MB-CU-0287 Copper concentrates TC index, cif Asia Pacific, $/tonne, which was published incorrectly on Friday June 26 due to a typo.
Fastmarkets has launched a monthly price assessment for medium carbon ferro-manganese in Europe, effective on Friday June 26, following market requests for price transparency.
Fastmarkets has amended the frequency of its MB-NI-0246 Nickel sulfate, cif Japan and Korea, and MB-NI-0247 Nickel sulfate premium, cif Japan and Korea assessments to fortnightly from weekly, effective Friday June 26.
Fastmarkets has launched two monthly price assessments covering the solar photovoltaic (PV) module market and battery energy storage (BESS) cell market in China on Friday June 26, 2026.