London Metal Exchange Expands With Molybdenum, Cobalt

LONDON, Feb. 23 -- The London Metal Exchange, the world's biggest metals market, began trading today in cobalt and molybdenum, commodities used in everything from jet engines to stainless steel.

The 133-year-old exchange offered futures on the metals on its floor starting at 12:20 p.m. local time. Codelco, the world's second-largest molybdenum producer, wants to support the molybdenum contract, according to Gonzalo Cuadra, a Codelco managing director.

The LME is expanding into so-called minor metals as it opens a first overseas office in Singapore and proposes a venture with the London-based Baltic Exchange to bring trading of freight derivatives onto a new exchange. The bourse handled $7.41 trillion of contracts last year, including 49.7 million in aluminum, 26.5 million in copper and about 30,000 in Mediterranean steel billet.

Trading in the new contracts may exceed steel "because moly and cobalt have a history of volatility and they have a wide range of industrial applications," said Stephen English, marketing manager of SFP Metals (U.K.) Ltd. in London, who has traded cobalt for more than 30 years.

LN Metals International Ltd. traded the first two metric tons of cobalt at $43,650 a ton ($19.80 a pound), Nigel Dentoom, chairman of the company, said at the LME. He declined to say if LN Metals was the buyer or seller.

Molybdenum Traded

Molybdenum traded earlier today at $35,000 a ton ($15.88 a pound), exchange spokesman Stephen White said. Total trading volume won't be available until tomorrow, he said. About five companies were involved in trading by midday today, said Chris Evans, head of business development at the LME.

Cobalt prices dropped 2.4 percent to $19.52 a pound this year, according to Metal Bulletin. The benchmark molybdenum oxide contract quoted by Metal Bulletin climbed 43 percent to $17.25 a pound. The LME estimates both markets combined at about $7 billion, compared with $5 billion for tin, which the bourse already trades.

"While we do not intend to utilize the molybdenum contract upon its launch, we will continue to monitor the activity on the exchange," said Bill Collier, a spokesman for Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's largest molybdenum producer.

Production of molybdenum last year was about 440 million pounds (199,581 tons), while cobalt output was 54,000 tons, according to Eric Taarland, a senior consultant at London research company CRU. Output of both metals exceeded demand, according to CRU estimates.

Molybdenum Demand

Molybdenum demand has gained because of growth in stainless steel output, while cobalt consumption was driven by sales of rechargeable batteries, according to Taarland.

There are 12 cobalt and molybdenum brands registered for delivery against the LME contracts, including Vale SA's Vale Inco unit and Molibdenos y Metales SA.

The LME plans to combine its Mediterranean and Far East steel billet futures into a global contract. Volumes reached about 3.3 million metric tons of steel, worth $1.4 billion, since they were introduced in April 2008 to Feb. 12, according to the exchange.