Platts launches daily spot market price assessments of met coal

Effective March 15, 2010, Platts has launched daily spot market price assessments of metallurgical coal starting with seaborne hard coking coal basis FOB Australia and CFR China. These assessments reflect the values of typical shipments loading in Australia for any destination, and for delivery into China from any potential source each business day. Platts also publishes daily a dry bulk freight assessment for Panamax class vessels between China and Australia as a guide to normalization, reflecting that major trade route. Close-of-market data for assessments is 18:30 Singapore time (1030 GMT).

Hard coking coal grades with the following specifications are included in the assessment process: coke strength after reduction (CSR) of 50% minimum; volatile matter (VM) of min 17.5-34.0% maximum air dried; crucible swell number (CSN) of 5.5 min; ash of 10.5% max air dried; sulfur (S) of 1.0% max air dried; phosphorous (P) of 0.08% max air dried; total moisture (TM) of 10.5% max as received; maceral composition vitrinite of 48-80%; mean max reflectance of vitrinite of 0.90-1.65%.

Spot cargoes within these quality ranges are normalized to the following published Platts specification basis representing the typical "target box" of blended coking coals typically sought by blast furnace operators in the Asia-Pacific region: coke strength after reduction (CSR) of 64% minimum; volatile matter (VM) of min 25.5% maximum air dried; crucible swell number (CSN) of 7.5 typical; ash of 9% max air dried; sulfur (S) of 0.6% max air dried; phosphorous (P) of 0.05% max air dried; total moisture (TM) of 9.5% max as received; mean max reflectance of vitrinite of 1.20%. Impurities (sulfur, ash and moisture) will also be normalized on a $/mt basis using an assessment of the prevailing market quality discounts.

Seaborne cargo assessments consider typically traded coking coal parcels, normally in the range of 10,000-80,000 mt, basis FOB Australia main ports (normalized to Hay Point port in Queensland); and CFR China main ports (normalized to Qingdao port in North China). Timing is based on cargoes loading FOB Australia two calendar months from date of publication, and for delivery CFR China 30-75 days from date of publication. Please address any comments or questions to cokingcoal@platts.com.

To view the metallurgical coal methodology and specifications guide, please visit the following link: http://www.platts.com/IM.Platts.Content/MethodologyReferences/MethodologySpec s/metcoalmethod or http://bit.ly/metcoalmethod