SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts proposes to discontinue SBB Steel Price Trackers

S&P Global Platts proposes to discontinue the 24 steel price trackers published in SBB Daily Briefing and on www.sbb.com from October 2, 2017.

Platts seeks market feedback on this proposal by June 30, 2017.

Many of these steel price trackers were started at the turn of the century (January 2000) or at the start of 2007/2008. They are calculated using fixed weightings of various price assessments published by Platts.

Since their launch, world steel trade flows have changed considerably, as have world output balances.

For example, in 2000, China produced around 15% of the world's steel output, while currently the country accounts for around 50% of the world's output.

More recently still, due to changes in tariffs and duties designed to protect local markets against imports, regional steel pricing has differed more markedly than in previous years.

For these reasons, Platts is proposing to discontinue its steel tracker series.

However, Platts publishes daily assessments for all major steel products; these assessments reflect the major global trade flows for these products. These assessments react nimbly to changes in trade flows, supply & demand and also to regional divergences caused by protectionist policies.

In terms of analytical data sets, Platts publishes steel mill economics spreads for various regions, which demonstrate the margins available to steel producers for the production of various finished steels when using different raw material inputs.

Meanwhile, the Platts MVS China Steel Mill Margins model uses formula designed to provide a representative operating margin for a coastal China steelmaker.

The proposal to discontinue the steel price trackers refers to the following price series:

Steel Price Tracker World SBIAX00 HRC Price Tracker World SBIAH00 Rebar Price Tracker World SBIAQ00 Flat Products Price Tracker Europe Dom SBIAE00 Flat Products Price Tracker N Amer Dom SBIAG00 Flat Products Price Tracker E Asia Imp SBIAD00 Long Products Price Tracker E Asia Imp SBIAL00 Long Products Price Tracker N Amer Dom SBIAN00 Long Products Price Tracker Europe Dom SBIAM00 Flat Products Price Tracker China Dom SBIAB00 Long Products Price Tracker China Dom SBIAJ00 Steel Price Tracker China Dom SBIAT00 Flat Products Price Tracker China Exp SBIAC00 Long Products Price Tracker China Exp SBIAK00 Flat Products Price Tracker Black Sea Exp SBIAA00 Long Products Price Tracker Black Sea Exp SBIAI00 Steel Price Tracker Mid East Imp SBIAO00 Flat Products Price Tracker Latin Amer Dom SBIAF00 Steel Price Tracker Latin Amer Exp SBIAU00 Steel Price Tracker N Amer Dom SBIAV00 Scrap Price Tracker N Amer Dom SBIAR00 Stainless Price Tracker World SBIAW00 Tube & Pipe Price Tracker World SBIAY00 Tube & Pipe Price Tracker N Amer SBIAP00

Please submit any feedback, comments or questions about this proposal by June 30, 2017 to pricemethodology@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.