Chief Executive Officer, London Metal Exchange, The London Metal Exchange Limited
LME CEO on Metalshub Partnership, Aluminum
Oct.11 -- The London Metal Exchange is working with Metalshub to develop a spot trading platform for base metals, with the first product set to be launched in early 2022. London Metal Exchange CEO Matthew Chamberlain discusses the partnership, outlook for metals price and demand, and aluminum production on “Bloomberg Markets: European Close."
About Matthew Chamberlain
Matthew Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange, stated in May 2025 that uncertainty over potential US tariffs on copper has created an arbitrage opportunity, with traders buying untaxed metal in Asia and shipping it to the United States before tariffs are imposed. He noted that this activity has led to some de-stocking in Asia and trans-Pacific shipments, describing the LME’s global network as enabling such trades. Regarding competition, Chamberlain said that while exchanges compete, initiatives like the Shanghai Futures Exchange opening to foreign investors are positive for the global industry, as they create more arbitrage opportunities. Chamberlain has previously emphasized the LME’s role in promoting responsible sourcing. He said the exchange has introduced requirements that metals must be ethically sound, not just metallurgically sound, and has implemented rules barring metal linked to child labor or conflict finance. On sustainability, he stated that metals must be sourced responsibly to be part of the solution for the energy transition, and the LME has partnered with Metalshub to bring transparency to the carbon footprint of traded metals.
Transcript (10 segments)
I
Interviewer0:00
Just in terms of what you're seeing now in the price action, what are you hearing on the ground? Are we at a top, or is there still a lot of bullish sentiment out there?
M
Matthew Chamberlain0:07
Yeah, so as you say, we've actually had our LME seminar today, and it's really been a source of discussion. Obviously, as your graph showed, some good price action today. I think there's a short-term and a medium-term story here. In the short term, the metals prices, like many of the commodities, are being impacted by a number of transient factors. You have energy, you have logistics, you have short-term supply disruption, and I think a lot of the price movements we've been seeing up and down are a consequence of that. But it's also undeniable that if we look at where we came from, from the depths of the pandemic, there has been this longer-term trend, and I think exactly as you say, that is driven by the longer-term supply story, i.e., that it's hard to bring new supply online, and the demand side, particularly the green revolution and the need for these metals in a more electric society.
I
Interviewer1:10
The needs of these metals in electric society is certainly something that a lot of people are talking about, Matthew. But the focus, it feels, and I know you guys have been discussing this as well, is trying to ensure that as we make this energy transition, the metals we're using fit the narrative — that they've not come from dirty mines, that they've not come from mines that are using non-sustainable energy. You guys are starting to move in this direction, so we've got this Metalshub transaction taking place. How much demand is there for that kind of transparency within the supply chain in the metal market?
M
Matthew Chamberlain1:46
Yeah, I think transparency is absolutely crucial here. We at the LME have been grappling with this question because, exactly as you say, metals can't expect to be part of the solution unless we can show that metals themselves are sourced in a responsible and sustainable manner. So if we take a look at aluminum, like on your graph here, we know that a lot of aluminum is produced from low-carbon power sources, but a lot is also produced from high-carbon power sources. So there have been calls for us to exclude high-carbon production, but we don't think that's the right thing to do, because then there simply wouldn't be enough aluminum on the market, and that graph you're showing would be even significantly more upwardly inclined. So what we want to do is to bring transparency and to have a world where there is disclosure of the metal that's traded on our exchange. So if you take delivery or you trade metal, you can go and get data about the sustainability characteristics of that metal — be that environmental, be that social, be it the provenance story — and ensure that you are comfortable with the metal that is in your supply chain.
I
Interviewer3:03
Matthew, how much more of a premium will those buyers pay for that green aluminum?
M
Matthew Chamberlain3:11
Yeah, well, that's a great question, and I don't think anybody really knows. If you talk in the market and say what's the green premium for aluminum, normally people will say kind of about ten dollars a ton, but that's very much a finger-in-the-air number. The deal that we've announced today, which is a partnership with Metalshub — which is a spot trading platform, it facilitates the spot trading of specific commodities — is really the first step in helping to answer that question. Because what we foresee is a world where you have the LME to deal with your high-level hedging, hedging your broad cost of metal, but there is a more digital way where you can then go and source specific parcels of metal with specific sustainability characteristics, like low carbon. And what we can then do, together with our partners at Metalshub, is to produce real transaction data that actually answers your question with real numbers.
I
Interviewer4:15
Matt, can you ever see a situation where there's dirty aluminum and you have to say no, that's not part of our business anymore?
M
Matthew Chamberlain4:26
Yeah, great question. So certainly that's what we have done for the human rights elements. We have already put in place rules that say that if your metal is using child labor or is supporting conflict finance, then we're sorry, but you can't be on our market. And that's because those issues are binary — the world has decided that those are bad things, and we're able to put that into our rules. Now, right now, as we know, carbon — it's more of a spectrum. People have different views on the carbon footprint of their product, and that's why we believe that disclosure and user choice is the right way to deal with it. But look, in five or ten years' time, could we see a future where you could only have lower carbon? Yeah, I certainly think the world could end up there.
I
Interviewer5:13
Hey Matt, quickly, about 30 seconds left. Do you expect liquidity to then be drained on your typical aluminum contract and go towards the more green one?
M
Matthew Chamberlain5:23
So that's a really important question, and that's why we haven't split the current contract, because we do think that would drain liquidity. We're going to use the spot trading platform to build that interest on low carbon, and then maybe we bring that back to the main market when the demand is there.