The London metal Exchange (LME) has announced launch of seven new contracts. The newly launched cash-settled contracts include hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel, alumina and cobalt. The launch of new products is aimed at attracting more business after the exchange recorded decline in profits during 2018.

The new contracts are structured in line with the existing cash steel contracts in rebar and scrap. The contracts will be listed in U.S. dollars per tonne and will be monthly-settled, initially extending to 15 months. They will be traded on Select electronic market as well as in the inter-office market. All the contracts except alumina will be settled based on the monthly average of a third-party index. Meantime, settlement of alumina contracts will be based on two indices, LME press release said.

The exchange will launch two regional hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel contracts-one for North America and another for China. It also intends to add another HRC contract for northern Europe. The aluminum suite comprises of two cash contracts based on duty-unpaid premiums for U.S. Midwest and Europe. The other new LME alumina contract will be based on the average of CRU and Fastmarkets indexes.

Also, cash-settled Cobalt contract is based on the Fastmarkets index while molybdenum will track the Platts index.

In future, the LME plans to introduce precious metals contracts on gold and silver, in addition to a contract for lithium.