Amendment to iron ore 63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium index specifications: pricing notice

After a one-month consultation period, Fastmarkets has decided to amend the Fe base specification of its MB-IRO-0010 iron ore 63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium to align it more closely with the specifications of Australian high-grade iron ore lump, with effect from October 1, 2024.

Fastmarkets’ index for the iron ore 63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao, tracks the spot prices of Australia-origin iron ore lumps in the CFR China spot market within the index specification range, including Pilbara Blend Lump and Newman Lump.

Following the consultation, Fastmarkets will amend the Fe base specification and name of the index to ensure that the index specification remains representative of the lump ore grade it seeks to reflect. The amendment is not expected to have any effect on the index price.

The amended specifications for the premium index will be as follows (changes in the premium index name and Fe content base):

MB-IRO-0010 Iron ore 62.5% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao, US cents per dmtu
Quality: Fe content base 62.5%, 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%; loss on ignition (%DW) base 5%; 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 per 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 index is part of the Fastmarkets steel raw materials prices package.

To provide feedback on this index, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this index, please contact Alice Li by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Alice Li, re: Iron ore 63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium.”

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.