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On September 1, London Metal Exchange (LME) announced that trading in steel futures hit another record level in August, with 24,853 lots traded, equivalent to more than 1.6 million metric tons of material.
 
August was the first full month of trading following the merger of the LME's regional steel contracts, known as the Mediterranean and Far East contracts.
 
The LME has registered six consecutive months of record volumes in steel trading since March.
 
As SteelOrbis previously reported, on August 17 the LME announced the addition of Chicago and Detroit to New Orleans as points of good delivery in the USA for LME-registered steel billet, with effect from November 16. Having storage facilities in these locations will enable the industry in North America to utilize the contract. The LME is expecting to register further North American storage locations as points of good delivery in due course.
 
In the last month, the LME also added a new steel billet brand from Spanish producer Corrugados Azpeitia, taking the number of steel brands listed with the LME to 45, from producers in 15 different countries.