Platts Introduces World's First Daily Metallurgical Coal Price Assessments

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, the leading global energy and metals information provider, today announced it will launch the world's first daily metallurgical coal assessments on March 15, 2010.  The new daily assessments address miners' and steel mills' needs for an independent daily spot assessment in the burgeoning Asian market to better determine pricing for short- and long-term contracts.

The two assessments, reflecting hard coking coal loading in Australia for any destination and delivered into China from any potential source, complement both Platts' existing monthly coking coal assessments published in International Coal Report and Platts' IODEX iron ore assessments published in Steel Markets Daily, providing greater transparency into pricing in the steelmaking supply chain in the Asia-Pacific region. Coke, made in ovens from coking coal, provides the heat and combustion that is required in steel mill blast furnaces.  

"These new assessments, along with a dry bulk freight price from Australia to China, allow us to deepen our analysis of blast furnace economics, particularly those in China," said Platts Global Director of Steel Francis Browne. "It's our hope the price transparency provided by Platts for this vital steel making ingredient will meet the global industry's need for comparative valuations of coking and other metallurgical coals," explained Browne.

Platts' Hard Coking Coal FOB Australia and Hard Coking Coal CFR China assessments will capture the value in U.S. dollars per dry metric ton ($/dmt) of hard coking coal loading free on board (FOB) in key Queensland, Australia ports and cargoes delivered on a cost and freight (CFR) basis to main Chinese ports. Platts will also launch a daily dry bulk freight assessment representing the cost of freight for cargoes carried on Panamax class vessels from Australia to China as a normalization guide in the coking coal price assessment process.  All three assessments will be published in Steel Markets Daily, Coal Trader International, International Coal Report, and on the real-time service Platts' Metals Alert.

Both of the new hard coking coal assessments reflect quality of 64% minimum coke strength after reduction, 9% maximum air dried ash, and 25.5% maximum air dried volatile matter, with recognized "premium" hard and hard coking coals of differing quality normalized to the Platts quality and specification guidelines as outlined in its methodology. Updated methodology documents will be available March 15th at this Platts web page.  

"The addition of daily metallurgical coking coal assessments for Australia and China adds further clarity and transparency to this growing market," said James O'Connell, Platts International Coal Managing Editor.  "These assessments also introduce a rigorous evaluation of differing but commonly-used qualities of metallurgical coal in order to be inclusive of more market activity and reflect a common transactional basis," added O'Connell.

Platts' metallurgical coal price assessment methodologies have been developed in consultation with a cross section of key industry players and draw upon Platts' century of experience in benchmark price reporting in the energy markets. For more than 35 years, Platts has also reported on the broader supply/demand fundamentals of metals, continuing the tradition of its parent company, The McGraw-Hill Companies, which has covered the metals markets for more than 75 years.

To learn more about Platts' price assessment process and other available Platts products and services, visit www.platts.com.  For information on Platts experts available for media interviews, visit the Platts Media Center.  

About Platts: Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading global provider of energy and commodities information. With a century of business experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150 countries. An independent provider, Platts serves the oil, natural gas, electricity, emissions, nuclear power, coal, petrochemical, shipping, and metals markets from 17 offices worldwide. Platts' real-time news, pricing, analytical services and conferences help markets operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts to help them make better trading and investment decisions. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:  Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts, Capital IQ, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com. 

SOURCE Platts