LME makes decision on warehousing rules; announcement in due course

The board of the London Metal Exchange has come to a decision on its warehousing rules but isn't planning to make an announcement on them just yet.

October 25, 2013

The board of the London Metal Exchange has come to a decision on its warehousing rules but isn’t planning to make an announcement just yet.

The UK regulator will need to sign off on the decision before it can be formally announced, people familiar with the matter said.

The exchange made the decision at a meeting held earlier on Friday October 25, it said.

“An in-principle decision has been made, and an announcement will be made in due course with the results and details of the consultation,” it added.

The LME warehousing rules have been the subject of a three-month industry-wide consultation on proposals announced at the start of July.

Feedback from the consultation was drawn into a final recommendation document prepared by the LME’s head of strategy and implementation, Matt Chamberlain, and discussed at the meeting.

In July, the LME proposed that in cases where it would take 100 calendar days or more to clear the backlog of cancelled metal in a given location, warehouse companies would be subject to a calculated cumulative incremental load-out rate on top of their normal obligations, until the queue drops below 100 days.

The proposals have divided the market, with aluminium consumers, producers, warehousing firms and politicians in the US Senate all offering their opinions.