LME member Triland Metals expands into ferrous market

Category one London Metal Exchange (LME) member Triland Metals is moving into the ferrous market.

Triland, a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi, has appointed Vaseem Karbhari as head of ferrous sales and marketing. He will be based in London and provide "specialist ferrous guidance" to the company's New York, Singapore and Tokyo offices.

The LME's steel scrap volumes have grown considerably since their introduction in November 2015, and are widely hailed as one of the most successful commodity derivatives launches of recent years. The contract experienced record volume of 62,842 lots in August, equating to 628,420t of ferrous scrap. And it has been a strong start to September with 30,947 lots, or 309,470t, traded already.

The Turkish scrap import market has been exceptionally volatile of late, roiled by rapid lira depreciation and supported by rebar exports into Asia and elsewhere.

The Argus assessment of Turkish HMS 1/2 (80:20) imports fell to a trough of $302.70/t cfr on 17 August from $329.50/t cfr on August 6, before jumping to $319.10/t cfr on 12 September after a slew of Baltic and US sales.

This movement has sparked increased paper trade, with participants looking to mitigate their risk. Large physical participants have conducted test trades on the LME contract, and it has some uptake from the marketplace — a lack of genuine physical interest has hobbled most steel derivatives contracts outside China in recent years.

The LME is looking to expand its ferrous offering with the launch of three new cash-settled hot rolled coil contracts, for Europe, the US and fob China.