LME confirms about quarter of its electronic trade coming from Asia

LME said a quarter of electronic trading volume on the exchange comes from participants based in Asia. This is the reason the exchange has become the biggest marketplace in the world for industrial metals such as aluminium. The exchange has disclosed the exact size of trade business they get from Asia and it seems they are also planning to boost their business in China.

"Ten-25 percent of outright trading on the electronic system comes from Asia,” said Garry Jones, LME Chief Executive,at a conference that took place in in Hong Kong.

Jones said that LME may accept yuan-denominated collateral for the products listed in London after launch of, LME Clear, its new clearing syste, in September, although the exchange does not plan to introduce yuan listed products in London.

LME had picked up Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd in 2012 as their preferred bidder in a $2.2 billion acquisition. The exchange has been trying to boost its presence in Asia.

Last year, it added Kaohsiung as their delivery point for the base metals but the exchange is focused on opening metal warehousing facilities in China. It took a number of years to find set up delivery networks in China. But the Chinese laws have presently forbidden the foreign exchanges to pen depots in China. One cannot expect any change in these rules in near term.