Platts widens iron ore delivery timing

On December 2, 2008, Platts widened the delivery timing window for its daily price assessment of iron ore fines basis CFR Qingdao, China, to two to eight (2-8) weeks forward from date of publication.

After canvassing feedback from subscribers and market participants, and subsequently announcing this proposed change, Platts has revised its methodology.

The previous delivery timing window was four to eight (4-8) weeks from date of publication. Platts had noticed that some iron ore miners and suppliers were selling iron ore cargoes into the seaborne spot market ready for prompt loading in advance of four weeks forward.

Such material was not considered distressed by the market, but in some cases had arrived at ports of destination in China earlier than the original delivery timing as per the Platts price assessment methodology.

Please address comments or queries to Francis Browne, +44 20 7176 6239; francis_browne@platts.com; and pricegroup@platts.com.