WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, one of the world's foremost providers of energy and metals information and price references, today announced it will expand its offering of physical market price assessments for U.S. steam coal bound for export. Steam coal, also known as thermal coal, is used to generate electricity.

"The declining use of coal in U.S. power generation and the increased focus on exports make pricing at North American ports increasingly important," said Regina Johnson, managing editor of Platts Coal Trader. "Not only will the new assessments bring greater transparency to the U.S. price picture, but they will bring greater clarity to U.S. coal's competitiveness in the global market."

The new price assessments (http://bit.ly/TNLviB) will begin October 1 to help meet the price information needs of coal producers, coal traders, and other buyers and sellers of thermal coal in the United States and worldwide.

The assessments will be as follows:

Platts Daily FOB U.S. East Coast Thermal Coal Assessment

Platts Daily FOB U.S. Gulf Coast Eastern Thermal Coal Assessment

Platts Daily FOB U.S. Gulf Coast Western Thermal Coal Assessment

Platts Daily FOB Canada/U.S. West Coast Thermal Coal Assessment

Each assessment will be quoted on a loading, free-on-board (FOB) export basis at U.S. ports in the East Coast, Gulf and West Coasts, reflecting prices for 14 to 45 days forward from the date of publication.

The new U.S. thermal coal export assessments expand Platts' suite of international price assessments for major coal export and import markets, including Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America and North America. They complement Platts' well-established benchmarks for U.S. domestic coal markets. These include Central Appalachian, CSX and Powder River Basin coal assessments, against which futures contracts on two exchanges are settled.

Assessments are based on all-day market monitoring and data collection of transactions, bids, offers and other information from market participants and reflect values at the close of the physical trading day at 4 pm ET. All prices are quoted as U.S. dollars per metric ton (mt).

The methodology for Platts' new U.S. thermal coal export assessments was developed in consultation with a cross-section of key industry players, draws on Platts century-plus experience in benchmark price reporting in energy, and is underpinned by well-defined, published quality guidelines.

The new U.S. thermal export coal assessments will be published in the real-time news services Platts Electricity Alert and Platts European Power Alert, and in Platts Market Data-Electric Power, an end-of-day data feed. They will also be published in Platts Coal Trader, a daily newsletter serving the North American coal sector, and published on a one-day-delayed basis, in Coal Trader International, a daily newsletter serving the global coal markets.

Additional information about Platts, coal, natural gas, and electricity, can be found at the Platts website www.platts.com. Platts publishes more than 12,000 price assessments, indexes and references in energy, petrochemicals and metals on a daily basis.

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 the physical and futures 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 more than 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, and shipping markets. A division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), Platts is headquartered in New York with approximately 900 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at www.platts.com.

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/.

CONTACT
Kathleen Tanzy
212-904-2860
Kathleen_tanzy@platts.com

SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts