London, 28 April 2010

Trading in steel futures on the London Metal Exchange reached a new record yesterday, with 1,514 lots of the Exchange’s Mediterranean contract traded, equivalent to 98,410 tonnes and with a value of $47.5million. This was 17.5% higher than the previous record of 1,288 lots registered on 19th March and in the last two and a half months the LME has seen the top 10 most traded dates since the launch of the Mediterranean steel contract in 2008.

Since March, when the LME announced it planned to add delivery locations outside Europe to the Mediterranean contract from July 28, interest in the Exchange’s steel hedging, pricing and delivery services has surged. Market Open Interest (MOI) has increased 155% since the start of the year to 2,906 lots on Monday, 26th April from 1,138 lots on 31st December, 2009.

Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME, said, “We continue to be encouraged by the performance of the steel business. We’re seeing real depth in trading activity as more and more market participants adopt LME steel as their favoured tool for risk management and benchmark pricing.”

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