LME announces growth in trading volumes for first half of 2009

The London Metal Exchange has issued an unaudited statement for trading volumes during the first six months of 2009. Total lots traded on the exchange rose 1.8% to 55,185,086 compared with the same period last year while daily average volumes rose 2.6% to 445,041 lots, due to 2008 being a leap year. Among the contracts showing the highest volume growth in 2009, tin futures and options volume grew 71.6% to 1,316,440 lots traded in the first six months of 2009, while Nickel volumes grew 19.4% to 3,085,672 lots and Copper Grade A grew 3.3% to 13,570,101 lots over the same period. Futures and options volumes in Primary HG Aluminium, the Exchange’s largest contract, were slightly down to 25,160,501 lots - representing a contraction of 2.8%. The Exchange also registered strong growth in trading of its extended prompt dates launched last September where High Grade Primary Aluminium and Copper Grade A contracts were extended from 63 months to 123 months (ten years), Special High Grade Zinc and Primary Nickel from 27 months to 63 months (five years), and Standard Lead from 15 months to 63 months (five years). In total, 153,191 lots of the new extended prompt dates were traded between January and June. Mr Martin Abbott CEO of LME said that “The LME is proving to be an attractive place to do business during the downturn with continued growth in trading volumes despite tough market conditions. Our core non-ferrous metals contracts continue to grow and we are also seeing encouraging volumes in our new products, particularly in the extended prompt date offerings and in the Mediterranean steel billet contract.” source:steelguru.com