LME still moving higher

now almost daily punching out fresh 2007 highs. It’s also showing a year-to-date increase of 138,825t, or 19.9%.

Arrivals are hitting the system in each of the main three geographical regions. Last week featured significant inflow at Rotterdam (7,000t), Gwangyang in South Korea (4,000t), Singapore (1,525t) and US locations (a total 2,600t).

Draw activity was extremely subdued, which reflected the decline in cancelled tonnage to a low point of 15,325t on Monday.

Cancellations picked up quite aggressively last week with a total 12,925t moving into this category, which has reinvigorated somewhat a depleted-looking cancelled pipeline. The biggest single focus was at Singapore (4,250t), although several US locations also saw robust cancellation activity—St Louis with 3,075t, Detroit with 2,000t, Baltimore with 1,400t and New Orleans with 1,075t—which suggests that traffic in the country will become less one-way than has recently been the case.

However, in outright terms cancelled tonnage is still pretty low and unless last week’s cancellation activity is followed by more of the same this week, it’s hard to see the scope for any sustained acceleration in “out” side activity any time soon.

NYMEX-warranted stocks were unchanged last week (and again yesterday) but unwarranted stocks continue to decline. They currently comprise 55,713 pieces, representing a 78,985 decline so far this year.