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

Sucden Financial'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 Exchange is a highly liquid market, with volumes of 93 million lots in 2007, equivalent to 9,500 billion US dollars annually and between 35-45 billion US dollars on an average business day.

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

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 Financial is one of only 12 ring dealing members authorised to trade in the open outcry ring of the LME.




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