According to the latest metal news, the London Metal Exchange is in a quandary over how to handle metal supply from “sanctioned” Russia. Their frustrations continue to be enhanced by the fact that some nations, led by China, remain interested in buying up Russian stock.
If there were no demand following all-around protests by importing nations, it would have been easy going for the LME. However, some countries, including Europe-based aluminum consumers, expressed displeasure over the idea of bans. The calls came despite Western producers actively called for restricting supplies by Russia. Meanwhile, such attitudes were made clear during a recent series of meetings at the industry’s annual gathering in London.
The fault line on the import of Russian metals finally emerged in the last 2-3 weeks. It appeared when buyers ordered over half of the copper in LME warehouses for delivery. According to thisAltogether, traders requested delivery of over 70,000 tons of copper from the LME warehouses over these past few weeks. Most were earmarked for consumers in China, where premiums for physical copper remain the highest they’ve been in years.
The metals industry had until October 28 to submit their opinions to the LME on this controversial issue. Obviously, that deadline has long since passed. This means the sector should be ready to hear the LME verdict anytime in the coming weeks.