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Platts and Fenwei Partnership Launches New China Metallurgical Coal Assessments

Platts, a leading global energy and commodities information provider, and Shanxi Fenwei Energy Consulting Company, China's largest and most respected coal market information provider, have deepened their partnership to produce a new independent, editorially-assessed metallurgical coal price series for the Chinese domestic market.

The two companies have expanded their China Coal Index (CCI) series with the introduction of five new daily metallurgical coal assessments known as China Coal Index — Metallurgical (CCI Met). The new price assessments will be accompanied by market commentaries on factors influencing daily price movements and market sentiment.

"Trading in and around the Chinese market has increased in sophistication," said Patrick Bradley, Platts commercial director of global coal. "As China continues to act as a major clearing market for seaborne met coal, reliable metrics for domestic and international arbitrage will become ever more critical. These new assessments will continue to leverage the unique combination of Fenwei's unparalleled reach in the domestic market with Platts' globally-recognized price assessment expertise in the field of metallurgical coal."

The CCI Met price assessments reflect the transactable value of metallurgical coal expressed in Chinese Yuan per metric ton (Yuan/mt). Additional information on CCI Met may be found on the factsheet here.

"Based on Platts' robust price assessment methodologies, the new CCI Met assessment will bring greater transparency and insights into the domestic coking coal market," said Julien Hall, senior managing editor for metallurgical coal and steel raw materials in Asia. "Chinese metallurgical coal buyers and sellers who actively engage in our price discovery process can help create useful new references in a historically complex and opaque market."

The five new daily assessments are:

    CCI Met Shanxi Premium Low Vol
    CCI Met Shanxi High Sulfur Premium Low Vol
    CCI Met North China Fat Coal
    CCI Met Shanxi PCI
    CCI Met Shandong Semi Soft

Metallurgical coals are a fundamental feedstock in steel and metals production, and include coking and PCI coals. All five CCI Met assessments are published daily in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily, Platts Coal Trader International, Metals Market Data, Platts Metals Alert and Global Coal Alert, as well as Fenwei's Mandarin and English language China Coal Resource websites, Daily Market Watch and China Coal Weekly reports.

Apart from the new CCI Met price assessments, Platts and Fenwei jointly publish four thermal coal indices: CCI 1, CCI 2, CCI 7 and CCI 8. Platts and Fenwei formed a commercial partnership in October 2013 to serve the Chinese market.

Fenwei, also widely known as SXCOAL, is a leading information and service provider to the coal and coke industries. Founded in 1999, Fenwei has developed into a widely recognized name in pricing, fundamental analysis, market research, and consulting in the Chinese coal information space. For more information, visit en.sxcoal.com.

source: http://www.prnewswire.com