Structural problem forces London Metal Exchange to relocate

Today’s was the largest single-day “arrivals” event in LME zinc stocks since July 2013. (Image courtesy of FastMarkets via YouTube)

A structural problem detected at the rather new London Metal Exchange (LME) offices in Finsbury Square, has forced traders to momentarily relocate to a Chelmsford business park, east of London.

The exchange, where $12 trillion of copper and other metals change hands each year, is one of Europe’s last open outcry trading floors.

The bourse, the world’s oldest and largest market for industrial metals and one of Europe’s last open outcry trading floors, said the potential safety issue in the building was discovered on Saturday.

The exchange, where $12 trillion of copper and other metals change hands each year, said trading, clearing and other systems were operating as usual.

The windowless disaster-recovery site where traders are based on this week hosts a replica of the LME’s floor known as the Ring, where they sit in red leather sofas arranged in a six-meter (20-foot) diameter circle and shout their orders from there.

The exchange officially opened the new office at 10 Finsbury Square in early May at a ceremony attended by mining CEOs and President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, the world’s top copper producer.