SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts proposes changes to FOB China rebar steel assessment

Platts is inviting industry feedback on a proposal to increase the frequency of the rebar steel FOB China price assessment (STCBZ02) to daily. The assessment is currently published weekly on Thursdays.

The proposal reflects the growth in China's rebar exports sold on a spot basis.

Chinese exports have gained in pricing importance as they influence export and domestic prices of other countries in the region.

At the same time, Platts is consulting with the industry on its proposal to clarify the assessment's specifications to BS 4449: 2005 B500B or equivalent bars of 16-20mm diameter and 12m length.

The location basis specified will be FOB Tianjin, China and the cargo size will be 5,000 mt. Payment terms will be L/C at sight, cargoes for shipment between four to eight weeks forward from the date of publication would be considered for assessment.

Platts will consider deals, bids and offers for cargoes of other qualities and sizes, and loading from other Chinese ports, and normalize them to the standard specifications. Trades will also be normalized to an actual weight basis.

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

The assessments will be published in Platts Steel Price Report, Platts Steel Markets Daily, Platts Price Analyzer, Platts Metals Alert and Platts Market Data.

The assessments will follow the Chinese public holiday calendar, with the exception of Saturdays and Sundays designated as working days in lieu of certain weekday holidays, because trading activity with counterparties overseas tends to be limited.

Please send all feedback, queries and comments by July 14, 2015 to keith.tan@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.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.