LME Tin Volumes Down

SHANGHAI, Sep. 9 -- Official data from the London Metal Exchange shows an overall rise in futures and options activity of 4% year-on-year in January-August, but tin volumes have fallen sharply.

In the eight months to August trading in all contracts amounted to 77.9 million lots, with much of the growth due to increased volumes in copper. Of the major base metals, lead, zinc and nickel also saw rises, although aluminium turnover fell by 7%.

Tin volumes were down 42% to 1.03 million lots. This reflects the fact that the comparison is with a period last year when trading activity was inflated by large scale speculative spread trading related to the “squeeze” on the market which came to a head in the second half of the year.