PIX Methodologies & Policies

COVERAGE NOTE: Correction to PIX Recovered Paper February average index values Feb 25, 2020

Helsinki, Feb. 25, 2020 (Fastmarkets FOEX) – Due to a technical error, PIX February price averages for Recovered Paper appeared incorrectly in the PIX Pulp & Paper History section on foex.fi website and Fastmarkets RISI portal and mobile app for a short period after publishing on Tuesday February 25^th.

The correct February monthly averages (EUR/t) are:

All databases have now been corrected.

The weekly PIX values of Feb 25, 2020 were not affected.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

COVERAGE NOTE: Open consultation on FOEX methodology for PIX European Pulp and Recovered Paper Price Indices

HELSINKI, January 31, 2020 (PIX Pulp & Paper Indices) - Fastmarkets FOEX is inviting feedback from the industry on the pricing methodologies for its PIX European Pulp and PIX European Recovered Paper price indices, as part of its announced annual methodology review process.

This consultation, which is open until February 28^th, 2020, seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequency.

Please find the current methodologies of FOEX PIX Pulp Europe price indices (PIX NBSK and PIX BHKP) here, and the FOEX PIX Recovered Paper Europe price indices (PIX OCC 1.04 dd and PIX ONP/OMG 1.11 dd) here.

Please send responses in writing, preferably in electronic format, to the following address: hello.foex@fastmarkets.com. Please add the respective subject heading "PIX Pulp Europe annual methodology review” or “PIX Recovered Paper Europe annual methodology review”.

Please specify whether your response is confidential. Opinions offered in confidential responses may be referenced but will not be attributed in any way.

Fastmarkets will publish the outcome of this methodology review by March 13^th, 2020, including a summary of the feedback with the exception of those marked as confidential. Any proposals to make material changes, discontinue or launch prices will involve a separate market consultation, the length of which will depend on how substantial the change is.

COVERAGE NOTE: Fastmarkets moves to annual methodology reviews across PRA divisions

HELSINKI, Jan 23, 2020 (Fastmarkets FOEX) - Fastmarkets will from this year, 2020, review its pricing methodologies and price specifications across all its Price Reporting Agency (PRA) divisions - metals and mining and forest products - on an annual basis rather than twice per year.

The decision is in line with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for PRAs, which sets out global standards for orderly and fair price assessment processes, and with practices followed by other commodity PRAs. The move also reflects the longevity of our pricing methodologies, which have been designed to fit specific markets over the long term without needing constant adjustments.

Fastmarkets will inform the industry and invite feedback via a pricing notice before annual methodology reviews take place to ensure our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under assessment.

The annual review will cover the assessment and index methodologies as well as individual price specifications. Proposals to make material changes and discontinue or launch prices will involve a market consultation, the length of which will depend on how substantial the change is for the industry.

Fastmarkets will continue to propose changes to methodologies and prices on an ad-hoc basis as and when necessary, and will carry out a market consultation if the suggested change is material.

To see Fastmarkets RISI and Fastmarkets FOEX pricing methodologies and specification documents go to www.risiinfo.com/approach/methodology/price-assessment-methodology/ or www.foex.fi/pix-methodologies-policies.

Random Lengths will continue to conduct twice-yearly Price Guide Revisions in April and October for the time being.

To provide feedback on this notice, please contact Alex Harrison for metals and mining prices at pricing@fastmarkets.com or Matt Graves for forest products at pricing.risi@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading 'FAO: Alex Harrison/Matt Graves re: annual methodology reviews'

COVERAGE NOTE: Changes to PIX Woodchip Indices Coverage – Implementation

HELSINKI, January 22, 2020 (PIX Bioenergy and Wood Indices) – As previously announced and following consultation, Fastmarkets FOEX has implemented the following changes to its PIX Woodchip indices:

-       Discontinued the PIX Hardwood Chip Asia on Jan 22, 2020.

-       Discontinued the PIX Softwood Chip Global on Jan 22, 2020.

For comments and queries, please email hello.foex@fastmarkets.com, indicating “PIX Woodchip Indices” in the subject line of the email.

More infromation available here.

COVERAGE NOTE: Changes to US Newsprint Coverage – Implementation

HELSINKI, January 7, 2020 (PIX Paper Indices) – As previously announced and following consultation, Fastmarkets FOEX has implemented the following updates to its PIX US Newsprint indices:

• Fastmarkets FOEX has discontinued price assessments for PIX US Newsprint (30 lb/48.8 g). We will continue to publish PIX US Newsprint 27.65 lb (45 g).
• Fastmarkets FOEX has adjusted its brightness specifications from 58-60 ISO to 55-58 ISO.

For comments or queries, please email hello.foex@fastmarkets.com indicating “PIX US Newsprint” in the subject line of the email.

COVERAGE NOTE: Changes to PIX Pellet Continental Coverage – Final Decision

HELSINKI, December 23, 2019 (PIX Bioenergy and Wood Indices) – Fastmarkets FOEX is unifying its methodology and policies for all PIX indices to comply with Fastmarkets’ internal guidelines and the IOSCO principles. Along with this development, some index data collection criteria will not fully fulfil these policy requirements.

As previously announced and following a consultation with no objections to the proposal received, Fastmarkets FOEX will make the following changes to its PIX Pellet Continental Index:

-       Discontinue the PIX Pellet Continental Index on May 6, 2020.

The main rationale for this change is that PIX Pellet Continental includes 3^rd party data delivered by industry associations that cannot be linked to individual companies.

Fastmarkets FOEX will publish the last index on May 5, 2020.

For comments and queries, please email hello.foex@fastmarkets.com, indicating “PIX Pellet Continental Index” in the subject line of the email.

COVERAGE NOTE: Weighting cap added to PIX Pulp & Paper and Biomass indices

HELSINKI, December 12, 2019 (PIX Pulp & Paper and Biomass Indices) – Fastmarkets FOEX has added a maximum weighting limit of a single price provider to all PIX Pulp & Paper and Biomass indices.

The weighting cap is 25% for significant benchmarks such as pulp Europe, pulp China and recovered paper, and 50% for other benchmarks.

At the same time, the internal guidelines for storing price data have been amended for all PIX price indices. From now on price data will be retained for seven years rather than five years at Fastmarkets FOEX, in line with Fastmarkets company policy.

The methodology documents have been changed accordingly: link