The amount of metal held off-warrant outside the London Metal Exchange network rose by 8.6% and exceeded 2 million tonnes in February 2021 for the first time since the LME started reporting this data, its latest readings showed.
The Exchange's latest off-warrant stock data, published on Monday April 12, was for volumes at the end of February 2021. This showed an increase of 166,146 tonnes of metal in the second month of the year, to 2,093,017 tonnes.
The increase was in part bolstered by the rise in off-warrant stocks of lead and zinc, which rose by 64% and 34% respectively in February.
But the amount of aluminium held off-warrant was still the largest of any metal, at more than 1.7 million tonnes, accounting for 83% of the total outside of the LME.
There was no tin in off-warrant stock for a second consecutive month, following a decrease in January from 50 tonnes to...