Platts Iron Ore Index: Anchoring pricing clarity in a changing market in World Economy News 18/05/2026 Introduction Over nearly two decades, the Platts Iron Ore Index (IODEX) has developed, supported by the industry, into a benchmark referenced across both physical and financial iron ore markets. Launched in 2008 as the first daily spot price assessment for iron ore delivered to China, the benchmark has become a widely used barometer of seaborne iron ore price in the global demand center. While the IODEX itself has baseline specifications reflecting medium-grade fines with iron content between 60% and 63.5%, the market’s trust in the benchmark has made it also the pricing basis of high- and low-grade fines, as well as lump, pellet and concentrates. Equipped with Platts suite of differentials for key impurities like alumina, silica and phosphorus; brand assessments and freight rates, the market has come to make use of a set of tools providing unparalleled informational transparency in the pricing of a wide variety of iron ore products. In addition to being the principal reference for physical term and spot cargoes, IODEX-settled financial derivatives have become an effective risk management tool for steelmakers, producers and traders alike, having grown over the years in terms of market depth and breadth of participants. This principally defines the value of a benchmark reference – a transparent and consistent reference specification against which material in a wider ecosystem can trade seamlessly and efficiently. Over the past year, the quality of key iron ore brands delivered to the market has shifted. Degradations of orebodies and operational and environmental limitations have driven changes to product specifications. Platts, as the custodian of the IODEX benchmark assessment, has consulted the industry extensively through regular, open dialogue over the past year to ensure the benchmark evolves with market needs. As these revisions work through supply chains and