LONDON (Commodity Online): Having tracked European steel sheet prices on a monthly basis for over 25 years, CRU will be introducing weekly assessments for Germany, France, Italy and Spain from February 2010.

When asked what necessitated the move, Paul Scott, a leading steel analyst with CRU, commented, "The migration has been partly market driven. Given the increased price volatility seen since 2004, steel market players increasingly need to manage their price risk, and weekly assessments allow this to be done more efficiently."

CRU's assessments of U.S. Midwest prices are already used in the settlement of CME's U.S. Midwest Hotel-Rolled Coil Steel Futures Contract.

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When questioned if the increased frequency of these assessments could lead to a European Steel Futures Contract, Scott suggested, "It certainly could. We are happy for our assessments to be used in whichever way market participants see fit; whether this be in the settlement of physical or financial contracts."

Glenn Cooney, Head of Operations at CRU Indices, said, "We will launch the indices in February and they will evolve through a shadow period before being officially published in the summer of 2010. During this period only data providers will see the output of the weekly indices." (PRNewswire)

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