Introduction

Fastmarkets publishes weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly price averages based on the underlying actual assessments. For certain cobalt prices (MB-CO-0004 and MB-CO-0005), we also publish weighted averages of trades. The averages are published on the first day of the next average period for the previous average. For a monthly average published on June 1, for example, the May monthly average will be displayed on the Fastmarkets Dashboard. 

Fastmarkets averages methodology

Fastmarkets averages are a simple average calculation. Fastmarkets’ simple monthly averages are calculated automatically by dividing the sum of all price quotations within a month by the number of quotations published during the calendar month. For assessments, Fastmarkets derives both the monthly average high price and the monthly average low price using this method. For indices, a single monthly average price point is calculated automatically. 

Weekly, quarterly and yearly averages are calculated in the same way. 

The following assessments are published on a simple average methodology: 

• All base metals, including calculated prices 
• All nonferrous scrap, including calculated prices 
• All steel 
• Ferrous scrap, including regional domestic assessments - such as Chicago, Detroit, etc. - and export yard prices, the export indices, Mexican scrap prices and the Midwest scrap indices 

Fastmarkets averages for calculated composite prices for ferrous scrap are the exception to the above. These are calculated using a rolling average methodology by dividing the sum of the daily price quotations - including prices republished on non-assessment days - by the number of quotations published during the calendar month. 

In a rolling-average scenario, prices are published daily, regardless of how frequently they are updated. Daily price quotations are rolled over on working days until the following price change, excluding holidays and weekends. No pricing inputs are published on holidays or weekends. 

As of March 1st 2023, Fastmarkets made a change to the calculation of mid-prices for published averages.  

To align with market convention, Fastmarkets changed the calculation of averages to represent the monthly average of the midpoint of each pricing session during the month.

Currently, the average function, when used for assessments, calculates the midpoint of the monthly average high assessment and monthly average low assessment. 

Although the new average calculation may result in a difference of +/- 0.01 when calculating averages to two decimal places, it will typically be no higher or lower. No averages will be retrospectively changed. 

Month-to-date averages

Fastmarkets’ month-to-date averages are calculated by dividing the sum of all price quotations by the number of quotations that have been published within a calendar month at the time of access/prior to the publication of the official monthly average.  
Fastmarkets makes available the month-to-date average after the publication of the first price quotation in that calendar month. The month-to-date average figure will be recalculated and updated automatically after each price quotation publication. Once the official monthly average is published, the month-to-date average will no longer be visible. 

These can be found in the Single Price Tile, Multi Price Table and Historic Price Table widgets as outlined below. 

Displaying average prices in widgets

On the dashboard, published average prices can be displayed in the Single Price tile, Price Chart, Multi Price Table and Historic Price Table widgets.  

Displaying average prices in a Multi Price Table widget

Monthly average prices are displayed by default in the Multi Price Table. To edit or add further average prices click the Settings tab and scroll down for weekly, quarterly, yearly and month-to date average fields.

Displaying average prices in a Price Chart widget

Once a chart has been added, click the dropdown arrow next to the symbol legend to choose between Weekly average, Monthly average, Quarterly average or Yearly average. 

Each price added to the chart can display either an actual or average price independently.

Displaying average prices in a Single Price Tile widget

To view the published average price in a Single Price Tile widget, click the purple dropdown next to “Historic price” and choose Weekly average, Monthly average, Quarterly Average or Yearly average. 

On selecting Monthly average the month-to-date average will appear at the top with historical published monthly averages underneath until the date of publication of the lastest monthly average as outlined in the MONTH-TO-DATE AVERAGES section above.

Displaying average prices in an Historic Price Table widget

Once a chart has been added, click the dropdown arrow next to the symbol legend to choose between Weekly average, Monthly average, Quarterly average or Yearly average.

The month-to-date average can be viewed on the first row when accessing the monthly average.

Important notes on monthly averages

In general, every symbol should have a monthly average. But in some instances, there is a reason why averages may not be available. Please refer to the following sections to check if this is the case. 

Why am I not able to retrieve monthly average prices for US weekly scrap composites?

The following weekly scrap composite prices are an average of the daily composite prices calculated for the week from Friday to Thursday. Published monthly averages are not available for these prices. The corresponding daily composite prices, shown in the table below, should be used to retrieve monthly average prices. The averages price calculation methodology for Fastmarkets US prices changed as of January 2021. Click here to find out more.

Further Help