Price Reporter
Fastmarkets is an independent commodity pricing and information organisation with over 500 staff. We are fuelled by values that bring us all together and are united by a collective passion to make a difference. We are supported by a working model that is based on a hybrid approach that allows each of us to balance home and office working while encouraging effective collaboration and accountability.
Fastmarkets is the most trusted Price Reporting Agency (PRA) in the metals, mining, agriculture, forest products, and energy transition markets. Our price data, forecasts, and market analyses give our customers strategic advantage in complex, volatile, often opaque markets. Our events provide forums for market participants to come together, trade, and talk through the critical issues of our times.
We are making a difference. Fastmarkets works to create transparent commodity markets through our reliable and trusted price data and market intelligence. The markets we serve are central to how economies work and are essential for our lives. By doing this, Fastmarkets helps our customers build a more sustainable world. We are built on a 130-year foundation while bringing a digital platform to market, combining the currency of trust with the power of digital.
Most importantly, we are fuelled by our teams that, across the globe, making the amazing possible. With a deep sense of purpose and belonging, we are building an extraordinary future – together. If you would like to help build the future, we hope you will join us on our journey.
Fastmarkets was founded in 1913 (as Metal Bulletin) and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by global private equity firm Astorg, a specialist investor in healthcare, software, technology, business services and technology-based industrial companies.
About the role
Fastmarkets and Hardwood Market Report are seeking a price reporter to cover North American hardwood markets, reporting lumber prices, writing industry news, and analyzing key market trends for an industry-leading price reporting agency (PRA).
Job purpose
To produce price assessments and market intelligence that are critical to the hardwood products industry. To cement our standing as the most trusted source of hardwood product information for more than 100 years. To support and develop new avenues that further imbed our data and news across the industry.
Principal Responsibilities
Assess hundreds of prices each week using our proprietary MInD database while adhering to our published methodologies and IOSCO principles.
Provide indispensable market commentary that provides context to the prices reported each week.
Produce market news and analysis for our Hardwood Market Report weekly publication, HMR Executive, HMR Import, and online news sites.
Cultivate new sources for market data while maintaining our vast network of industry contacts.
Edit copy and peer review price assessments to ensure compliance with our published methodologies.
Key Interfaces
Work within an experienced team of editors on a largely remote basis to produce several weekly, bimonthly, and monthly publications. More broadly collaborate with colleagues in other parts of the Forest Products business, including analysts and economists. Work with marketing and events teams to expand the reach of our price data and market reporting. Reports to managing editor.
About you
We recruit talented, dynamic people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, all united by a belief in our mission to provide the world’s leading and most trusted price reporting, events, and intelligence service for the markets we serve. We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and are committed to creating a fully inclusive workplace, where everyone feels able to participate and contribute meaningfully. You must be open-minded, curious, resilient, and solutions-oriented, and committed to promoting equality.
If you're excited about the role but your experience, skills or qualifications don't perfectly align, we encourage you to apply anyway.
Desired Skills/Experience
At least three years of professional writing experience, preferably in newspapers or other trade journals.
Ability to be self-motivated in a remote-work environment while also working collaboratively with teams across the organization.
Strong, concise writing and editing skills; ability to write authoritatively and to the point.
Comfort with numbers, statistics, and data-driven prose.
Strong interviewing skills and phone, email etiquette.
Ability to meet multiple weekly and daily deadlines.
Hardwood industry experience
Our values
Fastmarkets people come from all different walks of life. It’s this mix of brilliant personalities, experiences and insights that gives us that warm, open, and friendly culture you can feel as soon as you meet us. But however wonderfully different we all are, there are six things we all have in common – and they form our Fastmarkets values.
Created by our own employees to reflect some of the personal traits that Fastmarkets people have, our values are key to what makes our culture unique. They reflect who each of us are and they're embedded in everything we do.
Our values are:
METRICS DRIVEN. We use insights to improve our customers’ experience and our business performance
ACCOUNTABLE. We are accountable to ourselves and those we work with: we keep our promises and get things done
GROWTH MINDSET. This value enables us to be nimble to the changing realities and operate with a sense of urgency
INCLUSIVE. We are inclusive and respectful, celebrating each of us and giving everyone a deep sense of belonging with the desire to bring their best self to work every day.
CUSTOMER CENTRIC. We are customer-centric in all that we do
COLLABORATIVE. We are collaborative, able to work across teams and capitalise on the diversity of intellect, perspectives, and experiences.
You’ve read a little about us – now it’s over to you!
If you like what you’ve read so far and think you can see yourself as a Fastmarkets person, it’s time to fill in your application form. This form is an important part of the selection process: it’s used to determine whether or not you’ll be chosen to have an interview and acts as a basis for the questions we’ll ask you on the day. It’s vital that you try to capture all the relevant information we have asked for on the form so we can get a good feel for who you are and why you’re great.
Closing date for applications: 2nd February 2024