Platts proposes new monthly net contract price assessment for European methanol

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, is proposing to launch a new monthly net contract price assessment for the European methanol market, effective Nov. 3, 2025.

The new assessment would represent a typical net invoice price for methanol, loading on an FOB Rotterdam basis as part of long-term contract agreements and supplied within the specified calendar month. The assessment would be published in Eur/mt and would reflect T2 product conforming to the International Methanol Producers and Consumers Association (IMPCA) reference specification with a minimum purity of 99.85%, a maximum water content of 0.1% by weight and a maximum ethanol content of 50 mg/kg.

The contract price assessment would be calculated as an average of Platts' daily month-ahead FOB Rotterdam spot assessments, published during the preceding month (MEFRA01, MEFRA02). It would be databased to the first day of the month. For example, on Dec. 1, Platts would database the December contract price, averaging Platts FOB Rotterdam assessments for December loading, as published throughout November.

The new assessment would complement Platts' existing coverage of methanol spot markets and would be in addition to the European industry-settled quarterly gross contract price (ECP, HPACO00).

Platts has observed growing demand from buyers and sellers for a more frequently updated contract price, amid concerns in the market about divergence between contract and spot prices at quarterly settlements. The new assessment would also provide greater transparency over the net invoice prices.

According to Platts data, FOB Rotterdam spot values reached a peak 2025 discount of around 57% to the quarterly ECP in mid-May.

The industry-settled methanol contract price represents a price that is independently agreed between methanol sellers and buyers and that applies to their contractual deliveries for the following quarter. The settled contract price is then used by some market participants as a reference for their own contract deliveries. The settled contract price represents a gross value. Actual invoiced prices tend to be lower after the application of annual discounts agreed by buyers and sellers at the end of the preceding year. Annual discounts have been steadily rising over the past few years, with typical discounts in Europe now reaching 38%-45%.

Please send all feedback, comments and questions to petchems@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Oct. 7.

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