LME Steel HRC Shanghai | London Metal Exchange

Launching on 27 October 2026, the LME Steel HRC Shanghai futures contract provides international market participants with a new route to one of the world's most liquid commodity derivatives markets.

Cash-settled against the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) steel price, converted into US dollars by Commodity Pricing and Analysis Limited (CPAL), the contract marks the first time that a metals price from SHFE has been made available for trading on another exchange.

The contract has been designed to reflect the liquidity dynamics of the underlying SHFE HRC market together with the global nature of the LME’s trading community.

Contract highlights

Exposure to the globally significant SHFE HRC steel benchmark
Cash settlement in US dollars using a CPAL-administered methodology
Contract structure designed to reflect underlying SHFE liquidity dynamics
Ease of access for firms already set up for trading on the LME
Dedicated incentive programme to support electronic liquidity

Understanding the contract design

The contract design details are as follows:

Contract expiry day: The final day of trading (expiry day) for each monthly LME Steel HRC Shanghai contract will be the 15th of the month if that day is a business day in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the UK and the USA. Otherwise, the last trading day in respect of that month shall be the first day prior to the 15th, which is a trading day in the PRC, the UK and the USA. For example, the November 2026 LME Steel HRC Shanghai contract will expire on Friday 13 November 2026 (because 15 November 2026 is a Sunday).
Termination of trading and matching/clearing deadlines : On the expiry day, trading in the front month of the LME Steel HRC Shanghai contract will terminate at 08:00 London time. The deadline for the matching and clearing of all trades in the front month contract is 10:00 London time.
Settlement price: On the expiry day, the Final Settlement Price will be published by CPAL. In summary, CPAL’s procedure is to take the daily settlement of the SHFE HRC contract delivering in the following calendar month and convert it into US dollars. For example, the November 2026 LME Steel HRC Shanghai contract will settle to the daily settlement price (as published by SHFE on 13 November) of the December 2026 SHFE HRC contract. Full details of the CPAL conversion methodology are available on the CPAL website.
Why the next month’s SHFE contract is used: This approach, which has been validated by market discussions, reflects the liquidity dynamics of the SHFE HRC contract, where trading volumes and open interest roll from the front active month to the second active month approximately one month before contract expiry.
Monthly naming convention: The LME has adopted its standard naming convention of assigning contract months to the LME Steel HRC Shanghai contracts based on the month on which that contract settles on the LME.

Market participants should review the FAQs alongside the contract specifications to understand the contract design, settlement process and other practicalities of trading this product.

Read the FAQs