NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, a leading global energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider, has released the 2012 edition of its Platts SBB China Top 100 Steel Making Companies & Iron Ore Reserves Map, which offers a detailed snapshot of China's steel industry as of the end of 2011 and an update of the top 100 companies.

In light of significant structural changes within China's steel industry in 2011, the map's seventh edition details the ownership and products produced by the 198 steel mills which are owned by the top 100 steel-making companies - 14 more steel mills than are in last year's map.

For convenient reference, colors differentiate the two main production methods. Blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) uses iron ore as its base raw material, and electric arc furnace (EAF) uses scrap as its base. Color coding offers viewers an at-a-glance view of the geographical distribution of EAF steel makers and clearly reveals the extent to which these producers are located in Jiangsu province in the Yangtze River Delta region. Located in Eastern China, this region accounts for 20% of China's gross domestic product (GDP) as well as one-third of its imports and exports.

The map is inclusive of charts which illustrate the 10 fastest growing and largest provinces by GDP in 2011 and monthly prices of reinforcing bar (rebar) and hot-rolled coil between March 2011 and March 2012. The map also indicates China's iron ore reserves by size.

The 2012 edition also features 28 new steel mills mostly located in China's inland provinces and provides details on 10 steel mills having annual production of less than one million metric tons (mt). Other industry-critical information within the map includes:

    --  The top 10 crude steel producers' share of output in 2011
    --  The top 100 companies' crude steel production by ownership in 2011
    --  China's finished steel imports and exports by region in 2011
    --  China's crude steel production and apparent consumption* from 2004
        through 2011
    --  China's crude steel and pig iron production from 2002 through 2011

The Platts SBB China Top 100 Steel Making Companies & Iron Ore Reserves Map measures 45.7" x 35.8" and is available as the map alone ($499**) or with an accompanying Excel spreadsheet ($749**), providing the map data in an easy, extractable format for constructing models.

Platts offers approximately 30 maps and maps products, in addition to a wide variety of Geographic Information System (GIS) data.

Platts' maps and spatial data have been featured by broadcast and print media outlets including The New York Times, Newsweek, TIME and National Geographic.

*Apparent consumption of steel is domestic production minus net exports.

**These prices do not include shipping costs and sales tax.

About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information and a premier source of benchmark prices for those markets. Platts' news, pricing, analytics, commentary and conferences help customers make better-informed trading and business decisions and help the markets operate with greater transparency and efficiency. Customers in 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the oil, petrochemicals, natural gas, electricity, coal, nuclear power, shipping and metals markets. A division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Platts has approximately 900 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies: McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide. McGraw-Hill Financial's leading brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts energy information services and J.D. Power and Associates. With sales of $6.2 billion in 2011, the Corporation has approximately 23,000 employees across more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.

SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts