LME Copper Volumes Slip in Q2, Jump in Shanghai

LONDON July 12 (Reuters) - Total copper futures volumes on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 3.9 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter to 181 million tonnes and in Shanghai they surged 27 percent to 78 million tonnes.

In the first quarter of this year copper volumes on the LME rose 26 percent from the last quarter of 2009 and on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) copper futures volumes were up 15 percent.

The LME data was provided by the exchange or taken from its website. SHFE data came from the Reuters database.

Both the LME and SHFE declined to comment on the data.

Trade sources say SHFE includes both sides of the deal in its volumes. The tonnage traded on SHFE has been calculated using the volumes numbers divided by two.

LME aluminium futures volumes rose 5.4 percent in the second quarter from the first three months of the year to 289 million tonnes, while those for SHFE aluminium jumped 37 percent to 19 million tonnes. In the first quarter over the final quarter of 2009 the numbers were 2.7 and 82 percent respectively.

Zinc futures volumes on the LME rose 11 percent to 120 million tonnes and on SHFE a surge of 77 percent took volumes to 178 million tonnes. That compares with 6.5 and 107 percent respectively in the first quarter from the previous quarter.

LME Mediterranean steel futures volumes surged 137 percent in the second quarter to 2.6 million tonnes from the first quarter. That compares with a 105 percent jump in the first quarter from the last quarter of last year.

SHFE steel rebar futures volumes rose 43 percent to 658 million tonnes in the second quarter from the first quarter. The rise in the first three months from the last three months of 2009 was 51 percent.