10 million tonnes of steel have been traded at the London Metal Exchange (LME) year-to-date in 2010 (equivalent to 153,977 lots), the first time this milestone has been reached in a single calendar year.
The milestone was achieved during trading yesterday, Tuesday, 16th November 2010. This compares with 2.03 million tonnes (equivalent to 31,211 lots) in the whole of 2009, and 1.04 million tonnes (equivalent to 15,966 lots) traded from its 25th February launch in 2008.
Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME, said, “This is an extremely significant milestone to pass and demonstrates the continued growth and relevance to the global steel industry of the LME’s steel billet contract. It shows that peoples’ need to manage risk is turning into real hedging and trading activity on the Exchange.”
The LME also listed its first US steel billet brand today for delivery against the LME steel billet contract: Sterling Steel. There are now 46 brands listed from producers in 17 different countries. This latest brand addition follows the listing of the LME’s first storage facilities in Detroit and Chicago yesterday (Tuesday 16th November 2010), bringing all of its US locations for steel - New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit – on stream.