Platts to reshape China steel billet assessment coverage for seaborne market

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will publish a daily steel billet FOB China spot price assessment, and discontinue publishing its assessment for steel billet CFR China (CBLCA00), effective Feb. 3, 2025, in reflection of changes to trade flows and spot market liquidity.

The decision to reshape seaborne coverage follows a period of market feedback and responds to a gradual rebound in Chinese billet exports, alongside Platts' observation of reduced spot trading of billet on an import basis.

China's semi-finished steel exports rose threefold between 2022 and 2023, rising 219% from 1.03 million in 2022 to 3.28 million in 2023, while its imports fell 49% over the same period, from 6.39 million mt in 2022 to 3.27 million mt in 2023, according to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA). Most of the semi-finished steel traded is understood to comprise square billet.

The new assessment will have the following specifications:

The assessment will reflect a 5:30 pm Singapore timestamp and follow the Singapore holiday calendar.

The assessment will consider market information reported to Platts and published throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, transactions and indications, as well as any other data deemed relevant to the assessment process.

The discontinuation will affect the following:

Full details of Platts Billet CFR China specifications can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/PlattsContent/_assets/_files/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/steel-ferrous-methodology.pdf

Platts China billet assessments are published on fixed page STL0795 of the real-time Platts Steel Alert, in Steel Price Report and in the Platts price database. The FOB China assessment will additionally be published on STL1215. The first monthly average calculations will be updated on March 1, reflecting the average of daily assessments published throughout February.

Platts initially proposed the reshaping of assessment coverage on Nov. 4 in a subscriber note available at https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/110424-platts-proposes-to-reshape-china-steel-billet-assessment-coverage-for-seaborne-market.

Please send all comments, feedback, and questions to pl_asia_steel@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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