The London Metal Exchange (LME) will merge its existing Mediterranean (FM) and Far Eastern (FF) contracts in steel billet on July 28 to create a global steel billet futures contract.
A press release by the LME said that trading will cease in the FF contract on 28 July and additional delivery locations will be made available for the FM steel contract from the same date. Holders of contracts in FM will not be required to take any action, while remaining holders of FF contracts will see their contracts re-created under the FM contract for the relevant location.
As part of the merging process, delivery locations affiliated with the LME's current FF contract - Johor, Malaysia, and Incheon - will be integrated with the LME's FM contract delivery points. The LME is also currently assessing potential delivery locations in North America to further strengthen this network.
Since launching regional steel billet contracts in April 2008, the LME has seen almost 3.5 million mt of steel traded on the LME with a value of $1.5 billion.