Proposal to amend publication calendar for cobalt metal in-whs Rotterdam price assessments

Fastmarkets proposes to amend the publication calendar for its price assessments for MB-CO-0005 cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam, and MB-CO-0004 cobalt alloy grade, in-whs Rotterdam for the remainder of 2022 and beyond.

Under the proposed changes, the MB-CO-0005 and MB-CO-0004 price assessments will no longer be published on national holidays in England and Wales. They will, however, be published as normal during all working days in the UK, including those between Christmas and New Year.

This is a change from the previous process, under which prices would be rolled over on all national holidays and on the days between Christmas and New Year.

Fastmarkets minor metals, ores & alloys and industrial minerals price assessments follow the holiday calendar of the country in which the price or the team assessing it is based (the UK, the United States or China). This means that prices assessed by the European team, for instance, will follow the England and Wales national holidays, while prices assessed in Asia, will follow Chinese national holidays, and those in the US will follow US national holidays.

Lithium cif China, Japan and South Korea prices, lithium contract prices, all spodumene, imported charge chrome cif China and Turkish chrome ore cfr China are assessed jointly in London and China, and follow the England and Wales schedule, as in the calendar below. They will be assessed as usual on national holidays in China. High-carbon ferro-chrome cif Japan and South Korea follow the China schedule

The England and Wales national holidays for 2022 can be seen below.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts today, Friday February 11, and will end one month from now, on March 11. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on March 15.

To provide feedback on the above proposal, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact Janie Davies or Dalila Ouerghi by email at at: pricing@metalbulletin.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Davies/Ouerghi, re: Cobalt metal pricing calendar amendment.’

If you have any questions about Fastmarkets’ pricing calendar, please contact Fastmarkets’ global base metals editor Juliet Walsh at juliet.walsh@fastmarkets.com, or Fastmarkets global minor metals, ores & alloys editor Fleur Ritzema at fritzema@fastmarkets.com, or global steel editor Andrew Wells at andrew.wells@fastmarkets.com.

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