LME to list Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah port as delivery point for copper, zinc

The London Metal Exchange (LME) said it plans to list Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah as a new delivery point for copper and zinc, subject to ‘a short’ consultation on a technical change to the LME’s warehouse location framework.

“Saudi Arabia is an increasingly important global metals hub, and Jeddah fully meets with the operational and logistical criteria for new warehouse locations – such as being an important area of net consumption and having an effective transport network,” said Matthew Chamberlain, the CEO of LME CEO.

“We are committed to evolving the LME warehouse network to ensure we provide maximum global connectivity for the metals community.”

The new warehouse in Saudi Arabia would service the Middle East, North and East Africa regions.

“We look forward to a long future of cooperation with LME and to further developing our relationships with the international metals community,” said Farooq Shaikh, Farooq Shaikh, the CEO of LogiPoint, which operates a network of logistics parks in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is planning an ambitious industrial development and logistics programme, as part of Vision 2030 economic diversification programme.

The consultation proposes to amend a general clause in the LME’s policy on the approval of locations as delivery points related to warehouse insolvency.

“A key element of the policy is to ensure that, in the unlikely event of a warehouse operator insolvency, metal owners can easily access their metal,” the company said in a statement.

LME highlighted that the proposed amendment will clarify that some jurisdictions may require a court order to allow the withdrawal of metal.

Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah port is set to become an active delivery point three months after the approval of the first warehouse company in this location.

The warehouses, registered with the LME, are usually located in areas of net metals consumption or top transit hubs such as Rotterdam, according to Reuters.

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