On April 6, London Metal Exchange (LME) announced that trading in steel billet has rocketed in the first quarter of 2011, rising by 305 percent compared with the corresponding period last year.
In the first three months of this year, 69,426 lots were traded (2010: 17,134 lots) at the LME, equivalent to 4.5 million mt, compared to 1.1 million mt in 2010. Market open interest has also jumped by 11 percent to 2,674 lots at the close of March 31 this year, up from 2,400 lots on March 31, 2010. The total notional value of all contracts traded in the first quarter was $2.5 billion.
Commenting on the positive figures, LME's head of business development Chris Evans said, "The LME steel billet contract continues to perform well and is attracting broad user interest. We have seen a noticeable pick up in business since announcing we would create a global contract in March last year and 2011 is already on track to be another record year of steel trading."