Bloomberg reported that London Metal Exchange may decide next week to begin trade in cobalt and molybdenum futures as prices surge for the raw materials used in iPods, laptops and steel products.

Mr Chris Evans new products manager of LME said that Liz Milan commercial director of LME will on September 4th 2008 propose the board introduce the contracts, the first for the metals on any exchange, by mid 2009. He added that a decision is expected the same day.

Mr Evans said that "We have seen a lot of interest from industry participants, from miners through to consumers and traders. Molybdenum and cobalt are byproducts of metals that already trade on the exchange so launching them should be considerably easier.''

Evans said that cobalt and molybdenum have leapt in recent years, attracting the attention of investors, on rising demand for steel in Asia and mobile electronic devices worldwide. Output of the materials is dwarfed by metals such as aluminum. Molybdenum production totals about 190,000 tonnes a year and cobalt about 55,000 tonnes.