Commodity Prices

How to read these prices

The figures above are market benchmarks, not offers. They track published index levels and give a reference point for where a commodity is trading before you request a quotation.

What a benchmark represents

A benchmark is a reference price for a standard grade at a named loading point, usually quoted FOB. It excludes freight, insurance, inspection, financing cost and the premium or discount attached to a specific origin. Two cargoes of the same commodity can sit well apart on price and both be consistent with the benchmark.

What a quotation adds

A quotation prices your actual shipment. It fixes the grade and its expression basis, the origin, the packing, the incoterm and discharge port, the inspection body, the payment instrument, and the laycan. Trilogy issues quotations against a specification, not against an index, which is why the two numbers rarely match.

What moves your delivered cost

• Grade and its basis — BPL and TCP are not interchangeable figures, and a grade quoted without its basis is ambiguous.
• Origin — the producing mine or mill, which sets the impurity profile your process has to tolerate.
• Packing — bulk, 50 kg bags, or 1 MT jumbo bags, priced separately from the commodity.
• Incoterm and route — FOB, CIF, CFR or DAP, and the freight and war-risk premium attached to the sea leg.
• Inspection — SGS, Intertek or Bureau Veritas at load port, with the certificate of analysis that accompanies the cargo.
• Payment instrument — a letter of credit at sight, SBLC or telegraphic transfer each carries a different financing cost.