London – The London Metal Exchange (LME), the world’s premier exchange for base metals, steel billet and plastics, today issues an unaudited volumes statement for its steel billet contracts for the first six months of 2009.
Key highlights include:

• 12,284 lots traded in first six months of 2009 representing 798,460 metric tonnes of material;
• June was the largest traded month this year for the combined contracts – the previous high was April;
• The number of brands supporting the contracts rose to 41 with the addition of Kaptan in June;
• 28 members have traded the contract since its launch in April 2008.

Total steel billet contracts traded
From Jan-09 to end June-09

	Lots	Tonnes (MT)	Value $US
Total	12,284	798,460	263,418,155

Monthly trade volumes (lots)

Month	Total
Jan-09	1,994
Feb-09	2,176
Mar-09	1,756
Apr-09	2,267
May-09	1,645
Jun-09	2,446

Martin Abbott, Chief Executive of the LME comments: “It takes years for new contracts to grow to liquidity levels enjoyed by our established non-ferrous contracts like those in aluminium and copper, but the steel billet contracts are working well and establishing strong roots in the industry. The adoption by producers and the financial community has far exceeded our expectations and despite tough economic conditions, it’s clear the market sees value in this offering.”

Lotta Ulsfdotter, Business Manager for Steel at the LME adds: “Since we launched the contracts a year ago, the market has traded 1,836,250 tonnes or 28,250 lots with an equivalent financial value of US$854,553,135. Our goal was to provide the industry with tools for managing exposure to price volatility through hedging or price risk management and these results demonstrate we are achieving our goal.”

~Ends~

For further information or to speak to an LME spokesperson, please contact:
Stephen White
Business Manager Corporate Affairs
t. +44 (0)20 7264 1701 / +44 (0)7980 661 724
e. stephen.white@lme.com

About the London Metal Exchange
The London Metal Exchange is the world's premier base metals market. It offers futures and options contracts for aluminium, copper, tin, nickel, zinc, lead, aluminium alloy and NASAAC, steel billet, plastics and soon cobalt and molybdenum. Last year, turnover for the Exchange was $10.24trillion and the Exchange currently has 5.13m tonnes of metals on warrant in 516 warehouses across 38 locations globally.
www.lme.com