Base & battery metals
"LME Grade A" is a floor. It is not a description.
Copper, aluminium, zinc, nickel, lead and tin to exchange specification, and cobalt on the battery side. The grade is the easy half — brand, shape, location and warrant status decide what the metal is actually worth to you.
The desk
Four attributes, and only one of them is the grade.
Base metals are the most standardised things we trade. A copper cathode is a copper cathode; the chemistry is defined by an exchange contract, tested to a published standard, and produced to it by every refinery that matters. Which is exactly why the grade is almost never what the negotiation is about.
What the negotiation is about is brand — because two cathodes at the same purity from two producers do not trade at the same price, and a consumer with a continuous casting line has views about which brands run cleanly. Then shape, because ingots, T-bars and sows are not interchangeable to a caster, and a full-plate cathode is not the same handling problem as a cut one. Then location, because metal in the wrong warehouse is metal you pay to move. And then warrant status, because whether metal is on or off warrant changes what it costs to finance, to inspect and to release.
An offer that names only the metal and the grade has told you the least interesting quarter of the story. So the first thing we ask on a base metals enquiry is your brand list and your shape, and if you do not have a brand list we will tell you that you need one before you buy rather than after your caster rejects a lot.
The standard
What the exchange contract actually says.
These are the LME deliverable specifications — the reference against which most physical trade is written, whether or not the metal ever touches a warrant. Note how much of each specification is about form and lot size rather than chemistry.
| Metal | Grade & standard | Lot | Deliverable shapes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper | Grade A, to BS EN 1978:2022 cathode designation Cu-CATH-1, or ASTM B115 cathode Grade 1 | 25 t ± 2 % | Full plate cathodes only. Cut cathode is a physical-market product, not a deliverable one. |
| Aluminium | High grade primary, minimum 99.70 %, impurity limits per P1020A in the North American and International Registration Record | 25 t ± 2 % | Ingots of 9–26 kg, T-bars, or sows up to 788 kg. |
| Zinc | Special high grade, minimum 99.995 %, to BS EN 1179, ISO 752, ASTM B6 or GB/T 470 | 25 t ± 2 % | Ingots not exceeding 30 kg each. |
| Nickel | Primary nickel, minimum 99.80 %, to ASTM B39 or the equivalent GB/T specification | 6 t ± 2 % | Cathodes full or cut, briquettes, pellets or rounds. The widest deliverable form set of any of these, and the one where form matters most to the consumer. |
| Lead | Refined lead, minimum 99.970 %, to ASTM B29 | 25 t ± 2 % | Ingots to a maximum of 55 kg each. |
| Tin | Refined tin, minimum 99.85 %, to BS EN 610 | 5 t ± 2 % | Ingots of 12–30 kg each. |
| Cobalt | Minimum 99.80 % | 1 t ± 2 % | Cathodes broken or cut to a uniform size not exceeding 50 mm, rounds, briquettes, or coarse grain powder. |
Brands, warrants & premiums
The price on the screen is one of three numbers you pay.
Exchange price, physical premium and location. The first is public, the second is negotiated, and the third is the one that quietly decides whether a deal works.
Brand is a commercial term
Exchange-registered brands are approved for delivery; they are not equal in the market. Consumers keep approved-brand lists based on how metal behaves in their own process — surface quality, nodules on cathode, ingot dimensional consistency. Metal outside a buyer's list is a discount at best and a rejection at worst.
On warrant is not better, it is different
Warranted metal in a listed warehouse is financeable and instantly identifiable, and it carries rent and load-out considerations. Off-warrant metal usually prices better and requires you to do your own verification. Which one suits you depends on whether you are consuming the metal or financing it.
Shape is not a detail
Sows, T-bars and ingots feed different furnaces. Full-plate versus cut cathode changes handling, strapping and scrap generation. Nickel briquettes and cut cathode dissolve differently in a plating bath. We ask for the shape because getting it wrong is not a discount, it is a returned lot.
The physical premium
Quoted over the exchange price for a given location and duty status — the duty-paid and duty-unpaid premiums into a region are separate numbers and move independently. A premium quoted without its location and duty basis is not a premium.
Cash, three-month and the curve
Base metals quote a cash and a three-month price, and the spread between them — contango or backwardation — is a real cost or credit on any deal with time in it. A physical contract priced off the wrong leg of the curve loses money without anyone making a mistake.
Pricing period
Quotational period, the averaging basis, and who declares. On monthly-average pricing, the month and the declaration deadline are contract terms, not conventions. We write them down.
Battery metals
Cobalt, nickel and lithium carry a second set of obligations, and the dates have moved.
The battery chain is the one part of the base metals book where the regulatory position is genuinely in flux, and where being precise about what applies today is worth more than a general statement of intent.
The regime
Regulation (EU) 2023/1542
The EU Batteries Regulation imposes supply-chain due diligence on the raw materials that go into batteries — cobalt, natural graphite, lithium and nickel, and the chemical compounds made from them. Structurally it is the same OECD five-step framework used for precious metals: management systems, risk identification, risk response, independent third-party audit, and public reporting.
Two things about it are commonly stated wrongly, so here they are as at the date of this page.
The due diligence obligations do not apply yet. They were to apply from 18 August 2025. Regulation (EU) 2025/1561 — the "stop the clock" instrument, published on 30 July 2025 and in force from 31 July 2025 — postponed them by two years, to 18 August 2027. The Commission is required to publish due diligence guidelines a year before that date, and the delay was also intended to allow the third-party verification bodies to exist.
The scope was narrowed at the same time. The exemption now reaches beyond SMEs under €40 m turnover to "small mid-caps" — fewer than 750 employees with up to €150 m turnover or up to €129 m total assets — and there is a stated intention to confine the obligations to companies above €150 m net annual turnover. The carbon footprint declaration and recycled-content rules run on their own timetables, which have themselves been amended more than once.
The practical consequence for a contract: cite the regulation and the amending instrument, and state which party carries the obligation in the period concerned. An undated reference to "battery regulation compliance" in a 2026 contract is not a term anyone can enforce or rely on.
Border carbon
Aluminium is inside CBAM. Copper, zinc and nickel are not.
The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism entered its definitive period on 1 January 2026. Of the metals on this page, aluminium is a covered good; the other base metals are not in Annex I. That asymmetry is now a commercial fact about aluminium and it belongs in the price, not in a footnote.
- What changed on 1 January 2026
- The transitional reporting phase became a financial obligation. Importers above the threshold must hold authorised CBAM declarant status before importing, declare embedded emissions annually, and surrender certificates against them.
- The de minimis
- Importers of less than 50 tonnes of covered goods per calendar year are outside the obligations. It applies per importer per year and aggregates across all covered commodities — so a buyer bringing in aluminium and steel counts them together, however many customs representatives are involved.
- The dates that matter
- Certificates become purchasable from February 2027. The first annual declaration, covering 2026 imports, is due 30 September 2027. From 2027 declarants must hold certificates equal to at least 50 % of embedded emissions on a quarterly basis.
- What we provide
- Producer-level embedded emissions data where the producer publishes or verifies it, and the customs classification per consignment. What we do not do is estimate a number for you or act as your declarant — the obligation sits with the importer, and any intermediary offering to carry it is offering something it cannot deliver.
Scope
Where our obligation ends.
- What we supply
- Refined base metals in exchange-deliverable and physical-market forms, in container and break-bulk lots, FOB, CFR, CIF or delivered to a named warehouse. Cobalt and battery-chain material on the same documentary basis.
- What we do not do
- We do not smelt, refine or cast, and we hold no equity in production. We do not operate warehouses and we are not a listed warehouse operator. We do not trade concentrates, and we do not trade scrap.
- Exchange positions
- We are a physical desk. We do not offer hedging services, we do not take positions on your behalf, and we do not advise on the curve. Where a contract prices off an exchange we will write the mechanism precisely and leave the hedge to you and your bank.
- Warrants
- Where metal is warranted we will name the warehouse, the location and the warrant. We do not sell warrants as a financial instrument and we do not participate in transactions where the metal is a device rather than a cargo.
- CBAM and battery due diligence
- We supply data and documentation. The declarant obligation under CBAM and the due diligence obligation under the batteries regime sit with the party the law names, and we will not represent otherwise in a contract.
How to specify
Seven lines and we can price it.
The brand list is the one buyers most often leave out, and the one that most often causes a rejection.
Metal and grade
With the standard and its edition — Cu-CATH-1 to BS EN 1978:2022, P1020A, SHG zinc, and so on.
Brand list
Approved brands, or the brands you have run before. If you do not have a list, say so and we will tell you what your process is likely to need.
Shape and packing
Cathode full plate or cut; ingot, T-bar or sow; briquette or round. Bundle weight, strapping and whether you need it palletised.
Quantity and programme
Tonnes, and whether it is one lot or monthly deliveries over a period.
Location and duty status
Delivery point, and duty-paid or duty-unpaid. These are two different premiums.
Pricing mechanism
Cash or three-month, the quotational period, the averaging basis, and who declares.
Regulatory position
For aluminium, whether you are an authorised CBAM declarant and what emissions data you need. For battery-chain material, the due diligence documentation your own customers require.
Weight & assay
On refined metal, the argument is almost always weight.
Independent inspection by an agency appointed for the consignment — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly. On refined base metal the chemistry rarely fails, which is precisely why the disputes cluster around weight, count and condition. So that is where we put the supervision.
- Weighing
- Bundle-by-bundle on calibrated scales under supervision, with the tare basis stated. Gross, tare and net recorded per bundle rather than as a shipment total — a single figure for a container load cannot be reconciled if anything is short.
- Sampling and assay
- Drillings or millings taken under supervision to the applicable standard, with retained samples held by the inspector for the claim period. Assay by an independent laboratory, with the impurity table reported in full and not just the headline purity.
- Count and marks
- Bundle count, brand marks and cast or lot numbers recorded against the packing list. Brand verification is part of the inspection, not an assumption — brand is a price term, so it is a term to be evidenced.
- Condition
- Photographed at loading and at discharge. On cathode, surface condition and nodules; on ingot, dimensional consistency and mould defects; on all of it, wet or contaminated packing, which is how a clean assay arrives with a claim attached.
- Documentation per consignment
- Producer's certificate of analysis, independent assay report, weight certificate with bundle detail, packing list with brand and lot numbers, certificate of origin, warrant or warehouse receipt where applicable, bill of lading, and the inspection report with photographs.
Straight answer
What we will tell you before you ask.
- That the grade is the least of it
- Every serious refinery makes the grade. Brand, shape, location and warrant status are where the money and the risk sit, and an offer that mentions only the grade has not started yet.
- That you need a brand list before you buy
- Not after your caster rejects a lot. If you do not have one we will say so, and we would rather lose a first order than sell you metal your process will fight.
- That the battery due diligence date has moved to 18 August 2027
- And that this is a change in timing, not in the material. We apply the five steps now, because a documented chain built in advance is worth something and one assembled on the deadline is not.
- That CBAM is the importer's obligation, not ours
- We will give you producer emissions data and the classification. We will not be your declarant, and we will not put a number in a contract that we cannot substantiate.
- That we do not hedge for you
- We are a physical desk. We will write the pricing mechanism precisely and leave the position to you — anyone offering both is offering a conflict.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.