LME launches new contracts

The London Metal Exchange (LME) introduced new futures contracts July 19, building on the company’s existing offering to give the physical and financial communities more opportunities to manage their price risk.

The new contracts are:

• LME Steel HRC NW Europe (Argus);
• LME Steel Scrap CFR Taiwan (Argus);
• LME Steel Scrap CFR India (Platts);
• LME Aluminium Premium Duty Paid European (Fastmarkets MB);
• LME Aluminium UBC Scrap US (Argus); and
• LME Lithium Hydroxide CIF (Fastmarkets MB).

An alert from Argus, which provides the price assessments that three of the new LME futures contracts are settled against, notes that six benchmarks in the metals sector are now settled against Argus price assessments. In addition to these new LME contracts, the company’s price assessments are used to settle LME and CME futures contracts for hot-rolled coil in Asia and Europe.

Companies that are interested in using these new contracts to manage their price risk should contact their brokers or clearing members. For more additional assistance or to discuss hedging or trading using these contracts in more detail, email sales@lme.com.