ABSTRACT
The first metals PRAs emerged in the nineteenth century in the United States. Iron-working and steel manufacture as an industrial sector significantly pre-date crude oil production and refining and so these publications significantly pre-date the first energy-focused PRA, Platts. PRA pricing has, however, started to become more important for the aluminium and alumina markets in recent years, showing that there is a growing appetite for PRA pricing in base metals. Metal Bulletin indices were used as benchmarks for contracts in the zinc and aluminium markets as early as the 1960s. Metal Bulletin currently assesses over 2,000 non-ferrous, ferrous, raw material and non-metallic mineral prices from around the world. Platts had begun publishing daily spot Chinese iron ore assessments in 2008 and The Steel Index and Metal Bulletin had quickly followed suit. The largest pricing player in the sector is Industrial Minerals, which was founded in 1967 by Peter Rowbotham as an offshoot of Metal Bulletin's mineral sands coverage.
