Newsletter

LME - APPROVES EIGHT BRANDS FOR GOOD DELIVERY

The London Metal Exchange, during June 2009, approved the following brands under its Copper, Aluminium, Aluminium Alloy, NASAAC and Zinc Contracts:-

Copper Brands:-

PIRDOP - Aurubis Bulgaria AD, Bulgaria
SPENCE - Minera Spence SA, Chile

Primary Aluminium Brands:-

AD - Rio Tinto Alcan Aluminium Dunkerque, France
KAS - "Kazakhstan Aluminium Smelter" JSC, Republic of Kazakhstan
VEDANTAL - Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, Orissa, India

Aluminium Alloy and NASAAC Brands:-

NM-M - Nikkei MC Aluminium Co. Ltd., Japan (AA Contract)
VEDANI - Vedani Carlo Metalli Spa, Italy (NASAAC Contract)

Zinc Brand:-

VEDANTA SHG 99.995 - Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Haridwar Zinc Plant, Uttarakhand, India

WSE - NEW EXCHANGE SET UP TO TRADE STEEL SCRAP FUTURES

The Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE) and World Steel Dynamics (WSD) have launched a new exchange that will offer futures contracts for steel scrap.

The World Steel Exchange (WSE) expects to launch its first contracts later in 2009. Contracts will be traded and cleared on CCFE's trading platform, based on price indices including WSD's SteelBenchmarker.

For more information, please go to:-

http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/news/press/release_20090622_worldsteelexchange.pdf

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LCH.CLEARNET - TO CLEAR TRADES ON HONG KONG MERCANTILE EXCHANGE

On 10 June 2009, LCH.Clearnet and The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange agreed initial terms for LCH.Clearnet to provide clearing for HKMEx, subject to receiving regulatory approval.

HKMEx will provide standardized exchange-traded products on a transparent pricing platform to the Asia-Pacific time zone. All transactions will be carried out in U.S. Dollars. The Exchange is to be regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission.

For further information:-

http://www.lchclearnet.com/media_centre/press_releases/2009-06-10.asp

http://www.hkmerc.com/hkmex/images/files/LCH%20HKMEx%20clearing%20release%20EN.pdf

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SHFE - LEAD AND SILVER FUTURES CONTRACTS UNDER CONSIDERATION

It was announced at the 6th Shanghai Derivatives Market Forum held on 2nd - 3rd June 2009 that The Shanghai Futures Exchange will consider launching additional metals futures contracts including lead and silver as well as energy products such as crude oil. It would also review the possibility of introducing copper and aluminium options contracts as well as extending its base metal contracts beyond 12 months.

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IBMA - NEW ASSOCIATION FOR INDIAN PRECIOUS METALS TRADE

Indian Gold dealers and retailers, in alliance with The National Spot Exchange (NSEL), India's No. 1 Electronic Spot Exchange, has formed The Indian Bullion Market Association. It is a national-level association set up to represent the Indian precious metals trade and industry.

The concept is to promote a professional organisation dedicated towards the growth and development of bullion trade and industry. It is to be committed to improving current inefficiencies in the Indian Bullion market. Also, to approve local refineries' gold output for trading as well as introducing spot delivery contracts on The NSEL.

IBMA has more than 20 regional bullion trade associations as members with each having over 200 members.

The NSEL is an arm of the Multi Commodity Exchange and is promoted by Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL). FTIL holds a 51% shareholding of IBMA.

For further information, please go to:-

http://www.nationalspotexchange.com//NSELUploads/MediaCoverage/2009/May/English/137/NSEL_launches__Indian.pdf

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EU REACH - ECHA PUBLISHES NEW GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS FOR REACH

The European Chemicals Agency has published two new guidance documents for REACH. These "Guidance in a Nutshell" papers explain in brief the main elements that:- i) apply to substances in articles and ii) apply to the collection of information for registration dossiers and dossier evaluation.

To download these, please go to:-

http://guidance.echa.europa.eu/guidance2_en.htm

CLP REGULATION - CONFERENCE HELD ON NEW REGULATION FOR CLASSIFICATION, LABELLING & PACKAGING (CLP) OF CHEMICALS

On 17 June 2009, The European Commission held a conference on EU and world-wide rules for classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals (CLP). The conference aimed to inform authorities, industry and other stakeholders of the new CLP regulation in the EU, which is based on the United Nations Globally Harmonised System (GHS). It explained the main features of the new legislation, focusing on practical aspects. It provided up-to-date information on the CLP guidance documents and tools.

To access a video recording of the conference along with presentation slides, please go to:-

http://webcast.ec.europa.eu/dgenttv/portal/index.html?viewConference=7338

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July 2009, Issue 22