NEW YORK — The London Metal Exchange’s warehousing system is still broken, despite efforts to fix delays in accessing metal, according to major copper consumer Luvata UK Ltd.

Bob Kickham, senior vice president of procurement at London-based Luvata, told AMM that the company has tried to get metal out of LME-approved warehouses in Johor, Malaysia, but was told that it had to wait three months due to backups.

"We can’t be in a position where we seek to get materials out of warehouses and three months later we might get it," he said in an interview.

Luvata was forced to use an alternative route to get metal—buying it in the market, he said.

Kickham said the company has made its views on warehousing known at meetings of the LME copper committee.

"We are big supporters of the LME in general and have a good relationship with them; that’s why we feel confident in making this statement," he said. "We can’t have queues like they are at the moment. We want to be able to get material out of the warehouses in a practical time frame. We want a warehouse system that works, and at the moment it doesn’t."