SGX’s 65% Fe iron ore contract passes 3 mln tonnes in a month for first time

The 65% Fe iron ore derivative contract offered by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had cleared more than 3 million tonnes in a month for the first time at 4:40 pm Singapore time on Wednesday October 23.

October 24, 2019

A total of 32,570 lots or 3.257 million tonnes has been traded so far in October.

The contract registered a traded volumes of 2.3 million tonnes in September, the highest level since its December 2018 launch, with interest emerging from varied participants.

Monthly traded volumes have now remained above two million tonnes for four consecutive months.

The contract is settled based on Fastmarkets’ index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao, which is widely used in physical contracts to price high-grade products including fines, pellet and pellet feed.

Spot pellet transactions in the seaborne market have also been increasingly using Fastmarkets’ index for 65% Fe iron ore.

The high-grade iron ore derivative also recorded its first January and February 2020 contract trades earlier in October as well.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao, stood at $95 per tonne on Tuesday October 22, up $1.40 per tonne from the previous day.