Platts to discontinue 57% Fe Yandi Fines CFR Qingdao brand assessments

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will discontinue publishing brand assessments for 57% Fe Yandi Fines CFR Qingdao, effective July 1, 2024, considering reduced spot market activity and declining production.

Platts has observed reduced spot trading volumes for Yandi Fines, with market feedback indicating declining utilization as a sinter feed. Spot market data published by Platts over January-December 2023 showed around a 64% reduction in the number of Yandi trades year on year.

According to published reports by BHP, the producer of Yandi Fines, the share of the product as part of BHP's total iron ore output fell to 8% for financial year 2023 ended June 30, down from around 15% for 2022 and 27% for 2021.

The discontinuation will affect the following assessments:

Platts first proposed to discontinue the brand assessments on Jan. 2, 2024, in a subscriber note available here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/010224-platts-proposes-to-discontinue-57-fe-yandi-fines-cfr-qingdao-brand-assessments

Following the discontinuation, any Yandi Fines information observed in the seaborne spot market will continue to be normalized to and reflected in the Platts Iron Ore Fines 58% Fe CFR China assessment.

Full details of Platts iron ore specifications can be found here: /content/dam/spglobal/ci/en/documents/platts/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/Global_Iron_Ore.pdf

These assessments are published on fixed page 0120 of the real-time Platts Steel Alert and Platts Metals Alert, in SBB Steel Markets Daily, on Platts Connect, in Platts Market Center and in the Platts price database.

Please submit any questions or comments to IODEX@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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