Posted by meb at April 10th, 2008
The London Metal Exchange, the world’s number one non-ferrous market, is officially launching its futures trading in steel April 28 and Martin Abbott, the man in charge, has good news for Turkish producers, traders and investors alike.
Turkey is going to be one of the four major hubs for the LME, he told the Turkish Daily News in Istanbul, a city he and his colleagues have become increasingly acquainted with in the last few months. The LME, founded in 1877, has been offering futures contracts for aluminum, copper, nickel, tin, zinc, lead and even plastics up to now. The move in steel comes amid a worldwide commodities boom and reinforces London’s position as the world’s leading business center. Futures contracts are financial risk management tools that enable companies to hedge their price risk exposure by agreeing to buy or sell a particular volume of product for delivery on a fixed future date at a price agreed today.
Profound changes in industry:
“We were looking into [trading in steel] for the last few years,” Abbott told the TDN Monday. “And the reason is the changes in international steel industry, over the last decade in particular.” Industrialization of China and other emerging economies, including some (more…)