SUBSCRIBER NOTE: Platts proposes changes to Chinese 66% Fe iron ore concs assessment

Platts is proposing to change the methodology and specifications for its domestic Chinese 66% Fe iron ore concentrate price assessment to specify impurities, add normalization and increase frequency. The basis for the assessment would also change from ex-works North East China (focused on Hebei, Shangdong, Liaoning and Shanxi provinces) to delivered Tangshan City, Hebei province. The frequency of the assessment would increase to weekly from monthly. Platts is seeking feedback until December 31 on the proposed change, which would be effective February 7, 2014.

Platts proposes to assess concentrate delivered to steel mills in Tangshan City with the following impurities: Silica: 4 - 6%, Alumina: 0.3 - 1.2%, Phosphorus: less than 0.03%, Sulfur: less than 0.5%, Moisture: 6% - 10%. Where concentrate is observed on a 65% Fe basis, Platts would normalize to 66% Fe using an assessed market value for 1% of Fe content. The assessment would be on a cash payment basis, with payment and delivery within 2 weeks of publication of assessment. Concentrate sold on "bank acceptance" and other credit terms would be normalized to cash. The assessment would be in yuan per dry metric ton (yuan/dmt) and would include VAT.

The weekly assessment would represent the transactable value of iron ore concentrate prevailing at 16:30 Friday BST (Beijing Standard Time) and would be published in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily, Platts Metals Alert and the Platts SBB Price Analyzer. Please address any feedback or questions by December 31 to Sebastian Lewis, sebastian.lewis@platts.com and HongMei Li, hongmei.li@platts.com, with a copy to pricegroup@platts.com.