SINGAPORE, April 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global energy and commodity news and price reporting agency Argus and IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a leading global source of critical information and insight, have licensed the API 8 coal index to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) to enable the listing of coal derivative products. HKEx will launch API 8 thermal coal futures contracts, to be traded on its derivatives market later this year, pending regulatory approval and market readiness, the exchange has announced.

The API 8 index assesses the spot market price of coal delivered to south China. The country consumed around 4bn t of coal last year and imports, at 327mn t, were up by 13pc from a year earlier.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: "We welcome further recognition of our coal price assessments which are bringing greater transparency to the physical thermal coal market in Asia."

IHS Energy publisher John Howland said: "The decision by HKEx to list derivative products settled against the API 8 index further underlines the ever-increasing support for this benchmark not only in Asia but globally."

"The rationale behind our Asia Commodities platform is to meet the needs of the industry in Asia," HKEx chief executive Charles Li said. "The interest in this year's LME Week Asia shows how important Asia is to the global commodities business. This is just the beginning of our Asia Commodities plan," he added. 

The API coal indexes are calculated by averaging the relevant Argus and IHS price assessments. The methodologies used to derive these prices are available at www.argusmedia.com/methodology and www.mccloskeycoal.com.

The IHS assessment used in the API 8 index is the IHS McCloskey/Xinhua Infolink South China (5,500kcal NAR) marker. Xinhua Infolink is a leading privately owned independent Chinese business intelligence and insight provider.

Media contacts - Argus
Singapore
Jim Nicholson
+65 6496 9960
jim.nicholson@argusmedia.com

London
Seana Lanigan 
+44 20 7780 4272
seana.lanigan@argusmedia.com

Moscow
Mikhail Perfilov
+7 495 933 7571
mikhail.perfilov@argusmedia.com

Houston
Gabriela Alcocer
+1 713 429 6308
gabriela.alcocer@argusmedia.com

Media Contact - IHS
Dan Wilinsky
+1 303 397-2468
dan.wilinsky@ihs.com

About Argus Media (www.argusmedia.com)

Argus is an independent media organisation with almost 600 full time staff. It is headquartered in London and has offices in each of the world's principal commodity centres. Its main activities comprise publishing market reports containing price assessments, market commentary and news, and business intelligence reports that analyse market and industry trends.

More than half of Argus employees are commodity journalists who specialise in reporting news and price information relating to physical energy and related commodity markets. They operate according to a rigorous Editorial Code of Conduct and a compliance and ethics policy that align with best journalistic practice, including the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

Argus is a leading provider of data on prices and fundamentals, news, analysis, consultancy services and conferences for the global crude, oil products, natural gas, electricity, coal, emissions, bioenergy, fertilizer, petrochemical, metals and transportation industries. Data provided by Argus are widely used for indexation of physical trade. Companies, governments and international agencies use Argus information for analysis and planning purposes.

About IHS (www.ihs.com)

IHS (NYSE: IHS) is the leading source of information, insight and analysis in critical areas that shape today's business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 165 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, IHS is committed to sustainable, profitable growth and employs more than 8,000 people in 31 countries around the world.

*Trademark and copyright notice

API 8 is a trademark of and is used under license from Argus Media Limited and IHS Global Limited. All copyrights and database rights in the API 8 indexes belong exclusively to Argus Media Limited and IHS Global Limited and are used herein under license. Argus and IHS take no position on the purchase or sale of HKEx's financially settled listings.

Argus, the Argus logo and Argus Media are trademarks of Argus Media Limited.

IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. © 2014 IHS Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Argus; IHS Inc.