SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts launches daily FOB China rebar steel assessment from Sep 1

Platts has increased the frequency of assessment for the rebar FOB China price assessment (STCBZ02) to daily, effective September 1, 2015. Prior to this, the assessment had been published weekly on Thursdays. The change 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 clarifying the assessment's specifications to BS 4449: 2005 B500B or equivalent bars of 16-20mm diameter and 12m length. The location basis specified is FOB Tianjin, China and the cargo size will be 5,000 mt. Payment terms is L/C at sight. Cargoes for shipment between four to eight weeks forward from the date of publication are considered for assessment. Platts considers 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 are also normalized to an actual weight basis. Normalization for quality, dimensions and cargo size is done based on current premiums and discounts applied by the market, and locational normalization uses freight differentials between ports along China's coast, as well as freight netbacks and forwards. Information about known tax rebates is also considered in the assessment process. The assessments are published in Platts Steel Price Report, Platts Steel Markets Daily, Platts Price Analyzer, Platts Metals Alert and Platts Market Data. The assessments 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 to keith.tan@platts.com and pricegroup@platts.com.