A new trading platform for buying and selling of base metals for immediate physical delivery was launched in October by German company Metalprodex GmbH, with the most initial trading liquidity in aluminium and lead, the company's head said.
Newly established Metalprodex is offering an electronic trading platform enabling delivery of physical metal within two days. "We are in the phase of building up liquidity," Metalprodex's Managing Director Janko Linhart told Reuters in an interview for the LME Week. "The initial reaction has been highly positive with a large number of users registering and we are optimistic."
The platform started offering trading in aluminium, copper, lead and zinc in standard 25-tonne lot sizes, he said. Semi-finished products are also being added. The aim is to provide an additional service for metal consumers and not competition to metals futures. "We are seeing active interest in trading all four metals with metals being registered in warehouses for dealing," he said.
There has also been active business in semi-finished products including aluminium wire rod. Copper wire rod and semi-finished aluminium billets are also now being included in trade. Metal producing companies, recycling smelters, metal processors, the manufacturing industry and metals traders are target users, with the platform aiming to replace traditional informal telephone trading usually undertaken for quick physical metal deliveries.