Sucden is one of only 12 floor or Ring Dealing members of the LME (its highest category of membership). It executes a significant proportion of the market's activity and has one of the largest floor teams.

Sucden's base metal clients come from all industries (including producers, consumers, fabricators, traders and financial institutions) throughout the world. They use our services for hedging/risk management as well as speculative trading.

The LME itself can trace its origins back to 1571, although it was formally established in 1877 as the London Metal Market and Exchange Company. It is the second oldest futures exchange in the world and is by far the world's largest non-ferrous metals exchange.

The LME trades futures and options contracts in aluminium, aluminium alloy, copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc and the new plastics contracts. It also trades traded average price option contracts (TAPOs) for all metals and an index of LME metal prices, the LMEX.

In December 2006 the LME launched the LMEmini contracts, which are small-size, cash settled, monthly futures contracts, initially for copper, aluminium and zinc.

The daily value of contracts traded on the LME is about US $10billion and a turnover value of some US $3,000 billion per annum, from some 72 million contracts.

The LME is a combination of floor, electronic and inter-office trading, all cleared by the London Clearing House (LCH). LME membership extends to over 100 companies. Sucden is one of only 12 ring dealing members authorised to trade in the open outcry ring of the LME.



Trading in the London market starts about 7.00 a.m. with the 'premarket' session, where members make markets in the various metals from their offices.

The trading floor of the LME, called the Ring, opens at 11.45 and each contract trades in turn for a five-minute period. At 12.20, when all contracts have traded once, there is a ten-minute break before, starting at 12.30, each contract trades for an additional five minutes. It is during this second morning ring session that the 'settlement' and 'official' prices are determined. At around 13.15, once the official pricing is complete, a period of trading known as the 'kerb' begins. This less formal trading session takes place in the Ring and lasts until 13.30, during which time all contracts trade simultaneously.

The afternoon ring trading session begins at 15.10 and follows the structure of the morning session, ending with a kerb trading period of 25 minutes from 16.35 until 17.00. From 17.00, the market reverts to inter-office trading until at least 18.00.

Corporate risk services for LME clients are provided by our Industrial Commodities desk.