London, 21 October 2010

The London Metal Exchange ( LME) has received the first application to register a US brand for delivery against its steel contract, LME Steel Billet. An application was received for Sterling Steel Company LLC’s billet. Sterling Steel is based in Sterling, Illinois and has an annual capacity of 510,000 tonnes.

The application follows the LME’s approval of New Orleans as a point of good delivery for its steel billet contract in June 2010, and Chicago and Detroit in August 2010.

“Sterling Steel’s application, together with our delivery locations in New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit, show the LME steel futures contract is becoming increasingly relevant to the US steel market,” said Chris Evans, Head of Business Development at the LME. “Trading in the contract has boomed since the start of the year as steel companies see the value of managing price volatility with the LME.”

The Exchange now has 45 steel brands listed from producers in 17 different countries.

The LME merged its Mediterranean and Far East steel billet contracts into a single, global steel billet contract in July 2010. LME Steel Billet has traded record volumes over the last seven consecutive months, with 138,651 lots traded so far this year equivalent to 9 million tonnes and a notional value of $4.24 billion.

Ends --