THE PLASTICS PLATFORM: NEW ON-LINE TRADING SERVICE FOR BUYERS AND SELLERS OF PLASTICS NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- A venture between major petrochemical information providers of resin data has led to the creation of an on-line platform designed to aid in the buying and selling of commodity resins, as well as easy access to up-to-date market news and real-time prices. This powerful new service is called The Plastics Platform, and is located on the Web at http://www.plasticsplatform.com. Supplying information to The Plastics Platform are Modern Plastics/Modern Plastics International magazines and Standard & Poor's Platt's, both divisions of The McGraw-Hill Companies in New York, and the 1st Polymer Market of B&H Holding, Baarn, The Netherlands. This user-friendly service provides plastic market participants from all levels -- processors, distributors, traders and producers -- with an opportunity to save money by having access to the latest information on pricing, pricing trends, supply, availability and market influences. There are three levels of service available: Basic, Silver and Gold. The Basic package membership price is $960 per year, and includes... -- Online access to all the content-rich Modern Plastics issues and market analysis, with access to their comprehensive story archive -- Electronic Modern Plastics Buyer's Guide with global supplier information -- Access to the 1st Polymer Market interactive, dynamic global trading system -- Real-time global Platt's Petrochemical Alert news stories and historical price charts of weekly averages for key polymers Customers have the option to upgrade to Silver or Gold services that will allow them to obtain more customized informational needs for niche polymer market information, or broader petrochemical industry information. Additional news and pricing information within these packages are provided by Platt's Petrochemical Alert service. Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE: MHP) is a leading information services provider meeting worldwide needs in education, business, finance, the technical professions and government. Sales in 1997 were $3.5 billion. 1st Polymer Market has been owned by B&H Holding, in Baarn, since February 1997. They are the first independent global marketplace for buyers and sellers of polymers on the Internet. With the aim of bringing increased efficiency to the industry's supply chain by linking polymer producers, traders and converters, The Plastics Platform is a revolutionary marketing and sales tool to the industry.CONTACT: JoAnn Binz of Modern Plastics, 609-426-5335, or fax, 609-426-5905; Jim Downham of Standard & Poor's Platt's, 212-512-4289, or fax, 212-512-6169; or Annemarie Welling of 1st Polymer Market, 31-35-548-0711, or fax, 31-35-548-0707.Web site: http://www.plasticsplatform.com