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Enoch Yiu

Just over a year after the London Metal Exchange (LME) approved its first batch of warehouses in Hong Kong, the city now hosts 15 facilities run by seven operators, with close to 25,000 tonnes of metals stored.
It marks a triumph for both the LME and Hong Kong’s ambition to be a commodities trading hub. But the challenge is finding sufficient space to meet surging demand, said LME CEO Matthew Chamberlain in an interview on Thursday.
Chamberlain described it as a “very positive problem” – though one not easily solved.
What is the LME, and when did it set up warehouses in the city?
Founded 149 years ago, the LME is the world’s largest industrial metals trading centre. It was acquired by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing in 2012. Since then, the exchange has introduced a range of products in the city, but the warehouse network has been its most successful initiative.
Globally, LME-approved third-party operators run about 450 warehouses across the US, Europe and Asia, including Malaysia and South Korea, to store metals for investors and end users to trade or use to secure financing from banks.
In April 2025, the LME approved the first four facilities in Hong Kong, which began operations in July. Today, all 15 facilities are fully utilised.
China Resources Logistics, in partnership with LME-listed warehouse operator GKE Metal Logistics, operates two warehouses. Another operator is PGS (East Asia), whose local partner is SF Supply Chain (Hong Kong).

What metals are stored and who uses the facilities?
Chamberlain said the warehouses – located in Yuen Long, Tsing Yi, Kwai Chung and other areas – store high-value metals such as copper, lead, tin and zinc.
Manufacturers that rely on industrial metals for production can store their supplies in Hong Kong, where demand has surged amid the Middle East conflict, which has disrupted output and shipments.
“Following the conflict, many manufacturers want Hong Kong to expand its metal warehousing capacity to support a stable supply,” said Clara Chan Yuen-shan, executive deputy chairwoman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.
Why do LME warehouses matter for Hong Kong?
The warehouses benefit many manufacturers in the Greater Bay Area and other parts of mainland China, offering stable supply and lower transport costs compared with storing metals in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan or South Korea. Stocks in Hong Kong can be moved by truck or train rather than by ship.
This is why Chamberlain said many other metal owners preferred to store their stocks in Hong Kong, but were frustrated because all 15 warehouses were already full.

Can the LME add more warehouses to meet demand?
Chamberlain said operators had scoured Hong Kong for suitable sites and expected to add two more warehouses by the end of 2026.
The addition would lift capacity to about 30,000 tonnes. But that would remain insufficient, as a small factory may need 2,000 tonnes of industrial metal annually, according to Anise Lau, managing director of global futures brokerage for Asia-Pacific at Marex.
Chamberlain said the problem was that not all buildings could be used as LME warehouses because of strict requirements on size, fire prevention and logistics.
“They really have already found all of the suitable buildings in Hong Kong now,” he said, adding that the next question was whether the government could create more space for warehouses and whether landlords would be willing to build facilities for operators.
How can the problem be solved?
Chamberlain said there were two possible solutions: either the government supplied more land for warehouses, or the LME relaxed some of its restrictive policies.
If the exchange eased certain rules, more buildings in Hong Kong could qualify as LME warehouses, said Michael Tung, managing director for Hong Kong and Macau at SF Supply Chain (Hong Kong).
Chamberlain said the LME was exploring whether aluminium could be stored in open-air facilities rather than indoors, but he rejected any lowering of standards, stressing the need to maintain market confidence in the quality of metals stored at the exchange.


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A pile of copper bars. High-value metals such as copper, lead, tin and zinc are stored in LME-approved warehouses in Hong Kong. Photo: Shutterstock

Matthew Chamberlain at the LME Asia Metals Seminar 2026 in Hong Kong on May 7. Photo: Enoch Yiu

Traders, brokers and clerks gesture on the floor of the London Metal Exchange on March 11, 2025. Photo: AFP

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Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po speaks at the LME Asia Metals Seminar 2026 in Hong Kong today. Photo: ISD

Chan said a new gold clearing system was expected to begin operations later this year. Photo: Edmond So

Hong Kong’s warehousing ambitions were already gathering pace, with demand for storage space beginning to outstrip supply, Photo: Sam Tsang

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Hong Kong Gold Exchange chairman Haywood Cheung. Photo: Enoch Yiu

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Manufacturers importing copper, aluminium and other industrial metals were increasingly considering Hong Kong as a storage base. Photo: ISNA/AFP

Clara Chan Yuen-shan (left), executive deputy chairwoman of Federation of Hong Kong Industries (FHKI), and FHKI’s chairman Anthony Lam Sai-ho. Photo: Enoch Yiu

Hong Kong’s deep capital markets could also support the development of more sophisticated hedging tools, helping manufacturers manage price risks. Photo: Jelly Tse

The London Metal Exchange (LME), a subsidiary of HKEX, has 15 approved warehouses in Hong Kong as of March, storing around 24,000 tonnes of non-ferrous metals. Photo: AFP

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15 LME-approved warehouses are already full, underscoring city’s ambition to be a commodities centre – and its urgent need for more space


15 LME-approved warehouses are already full, underscoring city’s ambition to be a commodities centre – and its urgent need for more space.


How Hong Kong could ease its ‘positive problem’ of full metals warehouses

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}15 LME-approved warehouses are already full, underscoring city’s ambition to be a commodities centre – and its urgent need for more space

15 LME-approved warehouses are already full, underscoring city’s ambition to be a commodities centre – and its urgent need for more space