Platts Data Selected As Basis For CME's U.S. Midwest Aluminum Swap Futures

NEW YORK, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Platts' aluminum price assessments have been selected as the sole settlement basis for CME Group's newly launched Aluminum MW U.S. Transaction Premium Platts (25MT) Swap Futures contract. Platts is a leading global energy, metals and petrochemicals information provider and a top publisher of global benchmark reference prices.

"As a leading provider of aluminum price benchmarks for several decades, we're pleased to have exchanges such as CME Group recognize the reputation we've won in the marketplace and the role we play in price discovery by bringing greater transparency to the physical markets," said Gerald Bueshel, Platts director of global licensing.

With today's launch, CME Group settles and clears a total of 470 contracts* based on physical price assessments published by Platts .

The new aluminum swap futures contract, first announced by CME Group on April 11, 2012, ( http://cmegroup.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=3259&pagetemplate=article), will be based on the Platts Metals Week (MW) U.S. Aluminum Transaction Price assessments, which date back to 1984. The daily Platts assessment reflects 99.7% high-grade aluminum for prompt delivery to the U.S. Midwest (arrival within 30 days) denoting a premium or discount to the underlying global in-warehouse price. Specifically, the daily premium or discount reflects the Platts end-of-day assessment of the most-widely available premium or discount for delivery to a typical-freight consumer in a broad Midwest region.

Platts has covered news and pricing in the global aluminum markets for more than four decades and started its suite of U.S. aluminum price assessments in 1972. In addition to its aluminum assessments, Platts also publishes daily price references for the upstream raw input, alumina, available since August 2010.

Platts, as an independent publishing firm, has no affiliation with or vested interest in the production or actual sales of aluminum. Platts' role is to facilitate the price discovery process by collecting information consistent with its published quality consistency guidelines from buyers, sellers, brokers and traders and reporting that information in a transparent way to its subscribers and the marketplace.

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