On July 5, the London Metal Exchange (LME) announced that trading in steel futures on the exchange hit another record level in June, with 14,765 lots traded of its Mediterranean steel billet contract, representing 959,725 metric tons (notional value = $401million).
The LME 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, as of July 28, with global delivery options. As SteelOrbis previously reported, on June 23, the LME announced the addition of New Orleans as a point of good delivery for LME-registered steel billet, which will assist the industry in the US to use the contract.