SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts launches daily FOB China steel square bar assessment

S&P Global Platts has launched a daily spot price assessment for steel Square Bar on an FOB China basis on September 1, 2016.

The launch reflects the growth in China's square bar exports, which have globally affected the prices of both raw materials and steel.

The assessments are normalized to Q275 or equivalent specification, for bars of sectional dimensions of 150 square mm and length of 12 m.

The location basis specified is FOB Tianjin, China, and the cargo size is 10,000 mt, with a payment term of L/C at sight. Cargoes for shipment between four to eight weeks forward from the date of publication are considered for assessment purposes.

Platts will consider deals, bids and offers for cargoes of other qualities and sizes, and loading from other Chinese ports, and will normalize these to the standard specifications. Information from adjacent markets like China domestic and overseas imported billet indications will 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 tax rebates is also considered in the assessment process.

The assessments are published in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily, Platts Steel Price Report, Platts Price Analyzer, Platts Metals Alert and are available via Platts Market Data Category SQ.

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 overseas counterparties then tends to be limited.

Please send all feedback, queries and comments to keith.tan@spglobal.com and 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.