Amendment to nickel low-carbon briquette premium

This decision follows a one-month consultation period which ended on Thursday August 29.

Significant shifts in market structure, including the closure of some nickel operations, have led to a reduction in the overall pool of liquidity available for briquettes broadly, but particularly low-carbon briquettes.

Interest in price transparency in low-carbon nickel still persists, however, and Fastmarkets remains committed to maintaining its price coverage of this market.

In order to provide further transparency and increase the pool of liquidity available, Fastmarkets has amended the specifications of the assessment to include all shapes of Class 1 nickel which are deliverable or tradable via an exchange.

This amendment means that going forward the premium will also capture liquidity for uncut and cut cathode, pellets and rounds.

The new specification for the price will be as follows, with the amendments in italics.

MB-NI-0256 Nickel low-carbon metal premium, cif global, $ per tonne
Quality: Any exchange deliverable shape of Class 1 nickel metal, conforming to 99.80% min primary nickel: ASTM B39-79 (2013) or GB/T 6516-2010 – Ni9990 grade.
Carbon limit: 18tCO2e per tonne of nickel briquette produced, Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, measured following ISO14040 standards or via an independent third-party lifecycle assessment (LCA).
Additional ESG factors: All assets and third-party feeds should be in compliance with ICMM’s Mining Principles and Towards Sustainable Mining, as well as the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA).
Quantity: Minimum 20 tonnes.
Location: CIF global premium, premium on top of exchange or trade platform listed nickel price
Timing: Up to 12 months.
Unit: USD per tonne.
Publication: Monthly, first working day of the month, 4pm London time.
Notes: This premium will follow the UK pricing calendar and will be assessed from London. Sanctioned material will not be considered for the assessment.

This price is part of the Fastmarkets base metals package.

The first publication of the new price will be Monday September 2, 2024.

To provide feedback on this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Callum Perry and James McKeigue by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Callum Perry/James McKeigue re: nickel low-carbon metal 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.