SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts to launch five iron ore fines brand assessments

S&P Global Platts will launch five medium grade iron ore fines brand assessments on September 3, 2018.

This decision comes on the back of a period of market consultation that began June 22, 2018.

Platts received positive market feedback to the proposal. Market participants across the supply chain stated these assessments could provide more granular pricing information on the most liquid brands in the spot market.

Platts will launch brand assessments on a fixed and floating price basis for the following brands:

Pilbara Blend Fines (PBF) Brazilian Blend Fines (BRBF) Newman High Grade Fines (NHGF) MAC Fines (MACF) Jimblebar Fines (JMBF)

Platts will assess these brands timestamped to 5.30 pm Singapore/Beijing time on a daily basis.

Platts will take into account the typical specifications of these brands in determining these assessments.

Platts will assess the fixed price brand assessments based on transactional information collected throughout the day from active market participants across the supply chain. The floating price brand assessments will be calculated from the fixed price assessments, using the swaps forward curve.

These brands currently trade on a floating price basis against the monthly average of an index so Platts will use the swap assessment value for the relevant month.

MONTHLY ROLL: Feedback received during the market consultation period was to simplify mechanism used to value the floating price brand assessments.

In response to this feedback, Platts will use the following mechanism for the floating price assessments: the monthly swap value used as the basis of the floating price assessments will roll on the first business day of the month. The swap value used will therefore always be M+1.

Here is an example of how this will work in practice: The date is September 3, 2018. Platts will use the October swap assessment value as the basis of the floating price brand differentials. On October 1, 2018, Platts will start to use November swap value as the basis of the floating price brand differentials.

Please send all questions and feedback to IODEX@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.