LONDON (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Friday it will not ban Russian metal from being traded and stored in its system because for the most part a significant portion of the market is still planning to accept it in 2023.
The exchange, the world’s oldest and largest market for industrial metals, launched a discussion paper on the subject in October, asking for market opinion.
“The LME does not propose at this time to prohibit the warranting of new Russian metal nor to impose thresholds or limits to the amount of Russian stock permitted in LME warehouses,” the exchange said in a statement.
“While there is evidently an ethical dimension as to the global acceptability of Russian metal, we believe the LME should not seek to take or impose any moral judgements on the broader market.”
The exchange said it will continue to monitor the flow of Russian metal in LME warehouses and to provide transparency it will publish regular reports from January 2023 detailing the percentage of warranted Russian metal in LME warehouses.
(Reporting by Pratima Desai and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
