BEIJING, April 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts, a leading global energy and commodities information provider, and Shanxi Fenwei Energy Consulting Company, China's largest and most respected coal market information provider, have deepened their partnership to produce a new independent, editorially-assessed metallurgical coal price series for the Chinese domestic market.

The two companies have expanded their China Coal Index (CCI) series with the introduction of five new daily metallurgical coal assessments known as China Coal Index -- Metallurgical (CCI Met). The new price assessments will be accompanied by market commentaries on factors influencing daily price movements and market sentiment.

"Trading in and around the Chinese market has increased in sophistication," said Patrick Bradley, Platts commercial director of global coal. "As China continues to act as a major clearing market for seaborne met coal, reliable metrics for domestic and international arbitrage will become ever more critical. These new assessments will continue to leverage the unique combination of Fenwei's unparalleled reach in the domestic market with Platts' globally-recognized price assessment expertise in the field of metallurgical coal."

The CCI Met price assessments reflect the transactable value of metallurgical coal expressed in Chinese Yuan per metric ton (Yuan/mt). Additional information on CCI Met may be found on the factsheet here.

"Based on Platts' robust price assessment methodologies, the new CCI Met assessment will bring greater transparency and insights into the domestic coking coal market," said Julien Hall, senior managing editor for metallurgical coal and steel raw materials in Asia. "Chinese metallurgical coal buyers and sellers who actively engage in our price discovery process can help create useful new references in a historically complex and opaque market."

The five new daily assessments are:

    --  CCI Met Shanxi Premium Low Vol
    --  CCI Met Shanxi High Sulfur Premium Low Vol
    --  CCI Met North China Fat Coal
    --  CCI Met Shanxi PCI
    --  CCI Met Shandong Semi Soft

Metallurgical coals are a fundamental feedstock in steel and metals production, and include coking and PCI coals. All five CCI Met assessments are published daily in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily, Platts Coal Trader International, Metals Market Data, Platts Metals Alert and Global Coal Alert, as well as Fenwei's Mandarin and English language China Coal Resource websites, Daily Market Watch and China Coal Weekly reports.

Apart from the new CCI Met price assessments, Platts and Fenwei jointly publish four thermal coal indices: CCI 1, CCI 2, CCI 7 and CCI 8. Platts and Fenwei formed a commercial partnership in October 2013 to serve the Chinese market.

Fenwei, also widely known as SXCOAL, is a leading information and service provider to the coal and coke industries. Founded in 1999, Fenwei has developed into a widely recognized name in pricing, fundamental analysis, market research, and consulting in the Chinese coal information space. For more information, visit en.sxcoal.com.

About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals, metals and agriculture 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 biofuels, carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, shipping and sugar markets. A division of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), Platts is based in London with more than 1000 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at www.platts.com.

About McGraw Hill Financial: McGraw Hill Financial, a financial intelligence company, is a leader in credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics for the global capital and commodity markets. Iconic brands include: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, CRISIL and J.D. Power. The Company has approximately 18,000 employees in 30 countries. Additional information is available at www.mhfi.com.

SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts