Platts to update three daily US coking coal assessments, change to dry basis specifications

S&P Global Platts has decided to change three daily spot US coking coal assessments to a dry basis from current air-dried basis, effective April 1, 2020, following market feedback

The changes will align the specifications with standard trading practice in the US domestic and export coal markets.

Expressing the US coking coal index specifications on a dry basis will facilitate index referencing for physical spot and contract trade, and will remove basis risk, according to market feedback.

After further extensive market consultation, Platts made additional adjustments to base specifications for US coking coals, following a proposal to the market on September 25 (https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/092519-platts-proposes-to-change-three-daily-us-coking-coal-assessments-to-dry-basis).

Specifically:

• Platts will maintain High Vol B fluidity at 25,000 ddpm instead of raising it to 28,000 ddpm as originally proposed.

• Platts will reduce the total dilatation of High Vol B to 160%, from 180% previously, to bring this more in line with specifications seen in the market.

• For High Vol A, Platts will reflect 32.25% volatile matter on a dry basis, compared with the current 32% (air-dried) and the originally proposed 32.5% (dry basis) volatile matter.

The assessments will reflect the following specifications, on a dry basis:

Volatile Matter (dry basis) Ash (db) Sulfur (db) Moisture Dilatation MMR Fluidity (ddpm) CSR

High Vol A Coking Coal FOB USEC 32.25% 7.50% 0.95% 8% 220% 1.05 30,000

High Vol B Coking Coal FOB USEC 36.00% 8.00% 1.00% 8% 160% 0.95 25,000

Low Vol Hard Coking Coal FOB USEC 19.25% 8.25% 0.95% 8% 58

As part of this project, Platts will also change the basis for the penalty/premiums for US low-vol HCC to express sulfur and ash on a dry basis from air dried basis, effective April 1 2020.

The US met coal assessments are published on the page 4 of the Steel Markets Daily publication, page 8 of Coal Trader International publication, and page 4 of Coal Trader publication.

These assessments also appear on the real-time Metals alert pages 1049 and in the Platts database under the following codes:

Description Daily Code Monthly Average

High Vol A Coking Coal FOB USEC AAWWS00 AAWWS03

High Vol B Coking Coal FOB USEC AAWWT00 AAWWT03

Low Vol Hard Coking Coal FOB USEC AAWWR00 AAWWR03

Sulfur per 0.1% as % US LV FOB USEC CPPBE00

Sulfur per 0.1% US LV FOB USEC $/mt CPPBF00 CPPBF03

Sulfur per 0.1% as % US LV FOB USEC CPPBG00

Sulfur per 0.1% US LV FOB USEC $/Mt CPPBH00 CPPBH03

Ash per 1% as % US LV FOB USEC CPPBI00

Ash per 1% US LV FOB USEC $/mt CPPBJ00 CPPBJ03

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