Press Release: Platts initiates first monthly export coal assessments

LONDON, Jul 7, 2003 -- In a first for the international coal export markets, Platts is initiating price assessments for coal delivered in forward calendar months and quarters. Platts is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Platts' weekly International Coal Report and its daily, Coal Trader International, will assess the market for five benchmark coal specifications, representing the state of trade into Northwest Europe and out of major exporters South Africa, Colombia, Australia, and China. Assessments will be made for coal delivery in each of the next three months and for the next calendar quarter.

The shortest delivery period used in all other assessments available to the export markets is the forward three months. But with electric generators and other industrial users of coal under increasing financial pressure to manage stockpiles more tightly, trading for delivery in shorter calendar periods is becoming more common, said Margaret Ryan, editorial director of Platts global coal group. "These new assessments will help consumers better plan their spot coal purchases by giving more detailed market status, and it will give the industry more timely and reliable benchmarks on which to index," she said.

Coal assessments for monthly delivery were pioneered by Platts in its US publication, Coal Trader, in February 2001. With the addition this April of the Platts OTC Broker Index for prompt month delivery, Platts' assessments are market leaders for the US domestic coal industry. The new international assessments enhance International Coal Report's and Coal Trader International's full array of assessments for thermal coal, coking coal and petroleum coke spot markets in the Atlantic and Asia-Pacific markets. (end of release)