The London Metal Exchange (LME) has approved the Taiwan port of Kaohsiung as a new delivery location, the exchange said on Monday, its ninth delivery location in Asia. This means warehouses at the port that are approved by the LME will be able to take delivery of aluminium, aluminium alloy, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc. The LME approves and licenses a global network of warehouses that are in areas of net consumption or along major trade routes, so that metal can be delivered against futures positions and consumers can access a local stockpile of metal as a last resort. "With Asia being the fastest growing industrial region in the world, and a significant net consumer of LME metals, the listing of Kaohsiung is an important step in ensuring these demands continue to be met," Rob Hall, head of physical operations at the LME, said. The LME began looking in earnest at Taiwan's southern port of Kaohsiung as a listed delivery point in 2010, but the port's initial application failed because it did not meet the LME's customs criteria. Taiwan filed an amended application in April. The LME's approval of Taiwan is unusual because China is widely expected to allow the LME to list locations on the mainland in the next few years after Hong Kong Exchange's and Clearing purchase of the LME last year. But Taiwan is nevertheless close to Guandong province, one of the major copper and aluminium fabricating bases in top metals consumer China. (Reuters)