Platts starts daily CFR China ferrous scrap and steel billet assessments Jan 4

Following market consultation and feedback, S&P Global Platts is starting to publish new daily CFR China price assessments for ferrous scrap and steel billet, effective Jan. 4, 2021.

FERROUS SCRAP: China's Jan. 1, 2021 implementation of new national standards for Recycling Iron-Steel Materials, GB/T 39733-2020, paves the way for the resumption of ferrous scrap imports to supplement its steelmaking raw material mix.

The previous standard allowed imports of varied qualities of ferrous scrap and other forms of mixed metal scrap, including those deemed to be of detriment to the environment.

As the leading provider of global steel and raw material benchmarks and reference prices, Platts has decided to start publishing a CFR China ferrous scrap assessment to provide the market with greater transparency in pricing and market activity.

Platts HRS101 ferrous scrap assessment reflects trades, bids, offers and other spot pricing information for heavy melting scrap conforming to the HRS101 grade of the Chinese standard, or equivalent. Standard specifications are for cargo sizes of 2,000 mt and above and a shipment timing of 2-10 weeks forward from the publication date. The assessments basis port is be Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province in eastern China. Payment terms are L/C at sight.

STEEL BILLET: At the same time, in view of China's growing importance as an importer of steel billet, Platts is also starting to assess a CFR China spot price normalized to the 3SP grade for material of sectional dimensions of 150 square mm and length of 12 m. The location basis specified is Jiangyin, Jiangsu province in eastern China and a cargo size of 20,000-30,000 mt. Cargoes for shipment between 8-12 weeks forward from the date of publication are considered for assessment purposes. Payment terms are L/C at sight.

For both assessments, Platts considers pricing information for cargoes of other qualities and sizes, and for delivery to other Chinese ports, and normalizes these to the standard specifications. Information about adjacent markets, eg the China domestic and competing import markets, may also be considered in the assessment process as a supplement to data concerning the primary market.

Normalization for quality, dimensions and cargo size is done based on current premiums and discounts applied in the market, and locational normalization uses freight differentials between ports along China's coast, as well as freight netbacks and forwards. Information about known import taxes and rebates is also considered in the assessment process.

The ferrous scrap assessment is published in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily while the billet assessment is published in Platts Steel Price Report. Both assessments appear in Platts Steel Alert on fixed pages 1326 and 0795 and are available via Platts Market Data Categories ST for ferrous scrap (under symbol CHMCA00) and SQ for billet (CBLCA00).

Please send all feedback, queries and comments to pl_asia_steel@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com. For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.