Platts Adds Turkish Plastics to its Global Suite of Price Benchmarks

Platts Adds Turkish Plastics to its Global Suite of Price Benchmarks

March 01, 2007

    LONDON, March 1 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Platts, the
world's leading energy and commodity information provider,
today began publishing weekly price assessments for the
increasingly active Turkish market. Polymers are
petrochemicals used to produce plastics. 

    "Turkey has emerged as a key spot market benchmark
for polymers, which are used in the manufacture of plastic
products for the packaging, automotive, electronics, and
construction industries," said David Hanna, Platts
Global Director of Petrochemicals. "We are pleased to
bring greater transparency to this important market with
our new assessments. The new assessments are based on a
rigorous and clearly defined methodology that has been a
hallmark of Platts."

    The new assessments will be on a CFR Istanbul basis for
the following polymers: low density polyethylene (LDPE),
linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), high density
polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene homopolymer (PP),
polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polystyrene (PS). 

    "According to several studies, Turkey consumes
over 3 million metric tonnes of polymers annually, making
it one of the largest buyers in the Europe-Mideast
area," explains Shahrin Ismaiyatim, Platts Managing
Editor of European Petrochemicals. "Around 26% of this
consumption is for PP, followed by PE, PVC, and PS. With a
population of over 70 million people, and only one major
polymer producer, Petkim, Turkey relies on imported resins
to meet most of its domestic demand." 

    The new assessments will be published every Wednesday
in the Platts Polymerscan and in Platts' real-time
petrochemical price and news service, Platts Petrochemical
Alert (PCA). The assessments complement Platts'
comprehensive coverage of the polymers markets in Western
and Eastern Europe; North, Southeast and West Asia; and the
U.S. and Latin America. The price assessments are available
by subscription only. For more information about Turkish
polymer and other Platts price assessments, visit
www.platts.com.

    About Platts:

    Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:
MHP), is a leading global provider of energy and
commodities information. With nearly a century of business
experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150
countries. From 14 offices worldwide, Platts serves the
oil, natural gas, electricity, nuclear power, coal,
petrochemical and metals markets. Platts' real time news,
pricing, analytical services, and conferences help markets
operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk
managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts
to help them make better trading and investment decisions.
Additional information is available at
http://www.platts.com.

    About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

    Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP)
is a leading global information services provider meeting
worldwide needs in the financial services, education and
business information markets through leading brands such as
Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek
and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more
than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2006 were $6.3
billion. Additional information is available at
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com .


    For your information, please contact: 

    U.S.: 
     Kathleen Tanzy
     Tel: [phone]

    Europe: 
     Shiona Ramage
     Tel: [phone]

    Asia: 
     Casey Yew
     Tel: [phone]


SOURCE  Platts