• Monthly trading achieves new record for the fourth consecutive month
• Latest surge coincides with addition of New Orleans as delivery location for LME steel

Trading in steel futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit another record level in June, with 14,765 lots traded of its Mediterranean steel billet contract, representing 959,725 tonnes (notional value = $401m).

The Exchange has registered four consecutive months of record volumes in steel trading since March. The surge in trading coincides with increased LME member participation and steel industry interest in risk management.

It also follows the LME’s decision in December 2009 to merge its existing regional Mediterranean and Far East steel billet contracts into a single contract with global delivery options. On June 23rd, the LME announced the addition of New Orleans as a point of good delivery for LME-registered steel billet, which will assist industry in the USA to use the contract.

Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME, said, “The LME steel billet contract continues to gain momentum as the market increasingly recognises the value of our contract to manage price risk.”

On 28th July, 2010, the LME will merge its two steel contracts to form a single global contract. The Exchange is currently assessing the viability of adding further delivery points in the USA to expand its warehouse network for steel which includes storage facilities in Turkey, the Netherlands, Dubai, South Korea and Malaysia.

~Ends~

For further information or to speak to an LME spokesman, please contact:

Stephen White
Business Manager Corporate Affairs
t. +44 (0)20 7264 1701 / +44 (0)7980 661 724
e. stephen.white@lme.com

John Parry - RostronParry
t. +44 (0)207 490 8062 / +44 (0)7802 292251
e. john@rostronparry.com

About the London Metal Exchange

The London Metal Exchange is the world's premier base metals market. It offers metals price risk management tools including futures and options contracts for aluminium, copper, tin, nickel, zinc, lead, aluminium alloy and NASAAC, steel billet, plastics and the minor metals - cobalt and molybdenum. In 2009, the total value of trading was $7.41trillion, and the Exchange finished the year with 5.96m tonnes of material on warrant in 633 storage facilities across 39 locations globally.
http://www.lme.com/