Warehouse queues prompted LME's Vlissingen copper delisting

May 01, 2012 | 06:34 AM |

The London Metal Exchange delisted Vlissingen as a delivery point for copper after its copper committee raised concerns that load-out queues in the location could at some point lead to a distortion of the physical market for the red metal in Europe, sources told Metal Bulletin. The exchange announced on Wednesday April 25 that it will delist Vlissingen as a good delivery point for copper following a recommendation from the copper committee. It did not give a reason for the move.  “The copper committee felt, rightly I think, that it would be sensible to stop people putting copper into Vlissingen to prevent there being a risk in the future that others could not take it out,” one senior source at an LME brokerage said. Warehouse queues are caused by large volumes of metal – usually aluminium – being delivered into warehouses faster than they can be taken out. The LME addressed complaints about queues to obtain aluminium by commissioning an independent study into its warehousing operations and subsequently increasing minimum daily load out-rates.  But queues in some locations, including Vlissingen,....