July 2010, Issue 34
In this month's issue:-
- LME - GLOBAL STEEL CONTRACT AVAILABLE / NEW DELIVERY LOCATION
- CME GROUP - TO LAUNCH IRON ORE SWAP FUTURES
- LCHCLEARNET - TO LAUNCH OTC CLEARING SERVICE FOR CONTAINERS
- MCX - LAUNCHES FUTURES TRADING IN MINI ZINC AND LEAD CONTRACTS
- LBMA - ANNUAL PRECIOUS METALS CONFERENCE 2010 - DETAILS ANNOUNCED
- UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - INITIAL DISCUSSIONS ON MERCURY ACCORD HELD
LME - GLOBAL STEEL CONTRACT AVAILABLE IN JULY / NEW DELIVERY LOCATION
On 28 July 2010, The London Metal Exchange will formally merge its existing Mediterranean (FM) and Far Eastern (FF) contracts in steel billet creating a global steel billet futures contract.
Trading will cease in the FF contract on 28 July 2010 and additional delivery locations will be made available for the FM steel contract from the same date. Holders of contracts in FM will not be required to take any action, while remaining holders of FF contracts will see their contracts re-created under the FM contract for the relevant location.
As part of the merging process, delivery locations affiliated with the LME's current FF contract (Johor, Malaysia and Incheon) will be integrated with the LME's FM contract delivery points. Additionally, the LME has recently approved New Orleans as its first US steel delivery location which will also be effective from 28 July 2010.
For more information, please go to:-
www.lme.com (Steel Billet Contract)
www.lme.com (US Steel Delivery Location)
CME GROUP - TO LAUNCH IRON ORE SWAP FUTURES
On 21 June 2010, CME Group announced that it would begin, on 11 July 2010 for trade date 12 July 2010, trading and clearing services for Iron Ore 62% iron, CFR China TSI (The Steel Index) swap futures. Contracts will be listed by NYMEX and subject to the rules and regulations of NYMEX and CME. Trading will be available on the New York trading floor. Clearing services will be available through CME ClearPort.
The commodity code for the new contract will be TIO. It will be listed for 24 consecutive months, with August 2010 as the first listed contract month. The contract will be 500 dry metric tons in size with a minimum price fluctuation of $0.01 per tick.
For more information, please go to:-
http://www.cmegroup.com
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LCHCLEARNET - TO LAUNCH OTC CLEARING SERVICE FOR CONTAINERS
On 24 June 2010, LCHClearnet announced that it will launch on 28 June 2010 an Over-The-Counter (OTC) Clearing service for Container Freight Swap Agreements (CFSAs). The Contracts will fall within the LCH EnClear OTC Clearing service for Freight.
The CFSAs will be cash settled monthly against the established Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFi), which is compiled by data provider the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE). They will be cleared using the ECS system (Extensible Clearing System used for Freight, Iron Ore, Fertilizer and Emissions).
The service will allow for CFSAs previously concluded by bilateral parties through OTC Brokers, to be registered with LCH Clearnet for clearing. Positions that subsequently remain open at a contract's expiry will be financially settled against the SCFI.
For more information, please go to:-
http://www.lchclearnet.com
MCX - LAUNCHES FUTURES TRADING IN MINI ZINC AND LEAD CONTRACTS
The Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) launched mini futures contracts in zinc and lead on 24 May 2010 and 1 June 2010 respectively.
The contract specifications of both mini contracts is exactly the same as that of the existing contracts traded on MCX, the only difference being that the lot size has been reduced to 1 ton from 5 tons.
For more information, please go to:-
www.mcxindia.com (Zinc Mini)
www.mcxindia.com (Lead Mini)
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LBMA - ANNUAL PRECIOUS METALS CONFERENCE 2010 - DETAILS ANNOUNCED
This year's London Bullion Market Association's (LBMA) 2010 annual Precious Metals Conference will take place in Berlin, Germany from 26th - 28th September 2010.
For further information, go to:-
www.lbma.org.uk
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UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - INITIAL DISCUSSIONS ON MERCURY ACCORD HELD
From 7-11 June 2010, Governments, under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), held their first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to prepare a global legally-binding instrument on mercury. Governments exchanged views on issues relating to supply, demand, trade, waste treatment, storage and atmospheric emissions of mercury. Negotiations on substantive provisions of the treaty and associated control measures on each of the issues are expected to begin at the second meeting of the INC to be held in Tokyo, Japan, during January 2011.
For further information, go to:-
http://www.unep.org