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Rare metals and rare earths
Rare earths of a lanthanum subset, or lanthanides, are applied in production of permanent magnets, in iron and steel industry and non-ferrous metallurgy, in nuclear, electronic, chemical and other industries. |
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Non-metals
Non-metals are chemical elements that form simple elements with no
metal-specific qualities. Non-metals typically include 22 elements: gases - hydrogen,
nitrogen,
oxygen, fluor, chlorine and inert gases; liquids - bromine; solids - boron, carbon,
silicon, phosphorus,
arsenic, sulphur,
selenium, tellurium, iodine, astatine. |
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From ancient Romans to future contracts |
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back
As the Romans invaded Britain and extracted the large deposits of copper and tin ore in Cornwall and Wales, nobody thought it would start international trade in metals and, moreover, lead to formation of the London Metal Exchange, the largest European financial institution. The origins of the London Metal Exchange can be traced back as far as the opening of the Royal Exchange in London in 1571 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and the time when traders expanded their activities locally and internationally. The XIX century changed a lot. Growing size of businesses made traders leave the Royal Exchange and start to meet in the nearby city coffee houses. The Jerusalem Coffee House off Cornhill became a favourite of the metal trading community, where the tradition of the Ring was born.
Growing volumes of metal imports, new ways of communication and transportation gave rise to the unique system of daily trading dates for up to three months forward which still exists to this day at the London Metal Exchange. The LME was formed officially in 1877.
London Metal Exchange today is the biggest world's market for basic non-ferrous metals and a good benchmark for a world pricing on them. The LME stockholders' equity equals 20000 pound sterling. Today the LME trades in primary aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc and aluminium alloys. An index contract -LMEX- is based on six primary metals.
The LME members – dealers, brokers, traders – represent both big companies and private individuals. The LME players’ palette changed a lot, and their number shrank. The cause is that the commission fee paid out by non-members when buying or selling the contracts became smaller. As a result, it became cheaper to trade through an intermediary broker without becoming a member of the exchange himself. Brokers deal with futures and options on behalf of their clients. To start a metal-trading business on the London Metal Exchange is a line of activity of the MarketMetal company. It also cooperates with a broker who specializes in your particular product type. This person evaluates market trends, analyses changes in demand, production and international trade, traces the prices, and forecasts changes in demand on non-ferrous metals. MarketMetal can also find you best conditions and partners to trade metals. back |
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