Consumables

RISI Announces New RISI Indices Business

Wednesday 08. October 2014 - RISI Indices to launch an audited price reporting system with improved methodology and expanded partnership with FOEX

RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, announced today the creation of RISI Indices, a new business division focused solely on price and market reporting.  This new division, which will be completely separate from RISI’s forecasting and other businesses, will incorporate all of RISI’s existing news and price reporting staff and products.  The new structure will support key improvements to RISI’s price reporting methodology.
RISI Indices will immediately begin work on adopting standards for price reporting set by the International Organization for Securities Commissions (IOSCO), as well as best practices from FOEX and other commodity price reporting agencies, including:
Formal documentation of all price assessment methodologies
Implementation of new quality and compliance controls
New VP Markets & Compliance role to oversee methodology and compliance
External audits for price assessment methodologies
Complete separation from the RISI forecasting business
Matt Graves will head up the new RISI Indices business with Todd Petracek taking on the crucial new role of VP Markets & Compliance.
“Studying FOEX’s methodology has brought new insights to our price reporting business at RISI,” said Graves.  “The new RISI Indices business will be managed separately from RISI’s forecasting business with a pure focus on providing accurate indices with clearly defined and transparent methodologies.”
RISI CEO Charles Rutstein commented on the move: “RISI Indices marks our transition from a pure publishing model to a provider of benchmark indices to facilitate transactions and risk management.  We have studied price discovery and assessment in a range of other commodities and are excited to bring the best practices from those commodities to our price assessments in forest products.”
As part of this new development, RISI has initiated a closer partnership with FOEX to improve pulp price reporting and harmonize terms for commercial use of pulp price indices.  Effective January 1, 2015, RISI will adopt the same commercial use terms as FOEX for all pulp price indices.  Moving forward, companies using RISI and/or FOEX indices as references in supply and/or derivatives contracts can obtain a single license for commercial use of both RISI and FOEX prices.