At the 2021 Land-sea Linkage Qingdao Summit held on October 22nd, Xinhua-SPG 
Port Commodity Index ("XH-SPG PCI") was officially released in Qingdao. 

XH-SPG PCI was developed and established by Shandong Port Group Co., Ltd. in 
collaboration with China Economic Information Service based on the advantageous 
varieties of Shandong Port. At present, the officially released XH-SPG PCI 
covers crude oil price index, iron ore inventory and entry and exit index, coke 
inventory and entry and exit index, steel billet price index and hot-rolled 
coil price index. It has been established to truly reflect the fluctuation 
trend of bulk commodity market of the Port and provide value benchmark and 
effective reference for port trade activities. 

Specifically, the estimated CIF price of crude oil can be used by enterprises 
to predict the premiums and discounts of crude oil trade in two months, and the 
spot crude oil price index can reflect the crude oil CIF price at the current 
time node. The operation results of the index show that since the base period 
(February 3rd, 2020), the overall index has seen a "V" trend, with a fall 
followed by a rise. At the beginning, the global crude oil consumption demand 
was greatly reduced due to the outbreak of COVID-19. After that, with the 
resumption of work and production in China and the easing of release of OPEC + 
crude oil production capacity, the global crude oil supply and demand remained 
in a tight balance, and the index showed a volatile rising trend. 

For the iron ore inventory index, entry and exit index of iron ore, coke 
inventory index and entry and exit index of coke, January 1st, 2021 is taken as 
the base period. The compliant actual inventory data and entry and exit volume 
data of iron ore and coke in Shandong Port were collected respectively to 
reflect the overall change trend of iron ore and coke inventory in Shandong 
Port and the circulation activity of the Port. The index operation results show 
that since the base period, the iron ore inventory index has mainly shown a 
horizontal volatile trend. Affected by the supply of imported mines and the 
demand of inland traders and steel mills, the entry and exit index of iron ore 
has seen horizontal fluctuation. Due to the weak controllability of factors 
such as ship arrival time and mine shipment, the entry and exit index has seen 
a relatively significant fluctuation in general. Affected by the tight supply 
of coking coal, overcapacity cutting, stricter safety and environmental 
protection inspection and the change of operating rate of downstream steel 
mills, the coke inventory index showed a volatile downward trend in general. 
The coke entry and exit index fluctuated significantly due to the closure on 
holidays, environmental protection and production restriction, and changes in 
upstream and downstream supply and demand. 

For the steel billet price index, August 1st, 2019 is taken as the base period 
to collect the daily settlement price of steel billet generated by the actual 
trading of Shandong Bulk Commodity Trading Center. Since the base period, the 
overall index has shown a volatile trend, with a fall followed by a rise. For 
the price index of hot-rolled coil, August 3rd, 2020 is taken as the base 
period to collect the daily settlement price of hot-rolled coil generated by 
the actual trading of Shandong Bulk Commodity Trading Center. Since the base 
period, the index has shown a trapezoidal upward trend in general. 

According to the plan, the varieties involved in the index will be gradually 
enriched in the future, and the index will also be extended to cover other 
coastal ports, so as to continue to build an index information platform of 
"seeing Shandong for port bulk commodities". 

Source: China Economic Information Service