In truth, the contract had been on life support for several years, having hardly set the world alight even when it was launched with great fanfare in early 2008 – with hard and soft launches for its two regional variants, Mediterranean and East Asia.
Back then, the timing was wrong. The LME had passed up a golden chance to introduce steel in 2002, opting instead for a hotchpotch of plastics futures contracts.
LME brokers and traders spent a lot of time and money researching and marketing these to no avail – they soon foundered – so there was...
