Verified: Our price reporters are required to follow robust pricing procedures, clearly defined methodologies and price specifications during their market reporting and pricing sessions. All calculations or assessments are verified through our integrated peer review system, to guarantee unrivaled quality control and compliance.

Independent: We continually develop and review our methodologies in consultation with industry participants. Our aim is to adopt product specifications, trading terms, conditions or other factors that reflect and are representative of typical working practices in the industry.

Confidential: Markets are assessed by experienced price reporters each day, via phone calls, emails, texts, etc to a wide variety of market participants on both the buy and sell sides of the market. All information received from data submitters is kept confidential in accordance with the data submitter policy (see the section marked “confidentiality”).

All data supplied to Fastmarkets is kept confidential in accordance with the data submitter policy and stored in our secure online pricing database system MInD (Market Information Database). Fastmarkets may sign a Data Submitter Agreement (DSA) with any data provider, if requested to do so, to maximize the number of data points collected for inclusion in the assessment process.

Fastmarkets’ mission is to meet our markets’ data requirements honestly and independently, acting with integrity and care to ensure that the trust and confidence placed in the reliability of our pricing methodologies is maintained. We do not have a vested interest in the markets on which we report.

Fastmarkets’ reporters are required to abide by a code of conduct and clear pricing procedures during their market reporting and pricing activities. Fastmarkets is completely independent and has no vested commercial interest in any of the markets it prices.

Methodology rationale
Fastmarkets produces independent, fair and representative price assessments and indices of metals, forest and agricultural products prices on a daily, bi-weekly, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Fastmarkets’ rationale for adopting the price-discovery process is to produce consistent and representative indicators of value for the markets that we cover during defined trading periods.

Assessment objective
The assessor’s intended aim is to reflect our definition of our price assessment: ‘The prevailing level at which a commodity of stated specification has or could be expected to have transacted over a defined period of time.’ We summarize this for effective use as the prevailing ‘tradeable level’ of the market.

Data contribution
Fastmarkets reporters aim to collect data from a broad sample of market participants involved in physical commodities markets, with a good representation of both sides of the market, including producers and consumers, as well as traders and intermediaries.

Data is collected from industry participants directly involved in the market primarily by telephone but also by email, digital messaging, face-to-face interaction or by direct submission. All data supplied to Fastmarkets is kept confidential and stored in our secure online pricing database system.

Fastmarkets may sign a Data Submitter Agreement (DSA) with any data provider, if requested to do so, to maximize the number of data points collected for inclusion in the assessment process. Any data received subject to a DSA will be used in the pricing assessment but will not be commented on.

Market participants may contribute data following a review by Fastmarkets of their activities. The aim is to ensure that submitters have sufficient visibility and understanding of the market in question to be able to provide reliable price data.

We expect that data submitters taking part in the pricing process are authorized to report market data on behalf of their organizations. Fastmarkets encourages organizations to submit all their pricing data, especially all the concluded transactions.

Price reporters generally speak to, and collect data from, front office staff directly involved in the commercial activity of buying and selling. Fastmarkets also welcomes organizations to submit transaction data from authorized back-office functions.