LME Warehouse Ledger ·Data as of September 3, 2026
LME Zinc warehouse stock is up 13.8% over 30 days, now 110.5K mt
Daily warehouse inventory across Copper, Aluminum, Zinc, Lead, Nickel, and Tin — total warehouse stocks, with 7-day and 30-day change.
The Desk's read
LME aluminum on warrant, the metal actually warranted for delivery in LME-approved sheds, sits at 245,975 mt as of 2026-09-03, the lowest level in the 19-year record. The pile reads thin, at the 0th percentile of that record. It got there quickly: the trailing 250-report change ranks at the 8 percentile, near the drain-side extreme, and stocks fell 5.7% over 30 days. Across the family, copper holds 234,650 mt, zinc 110,500 mt, lead 396,825 mt, nickel 270,768 mt, tin 5,445 mt. Watch aluminum in the next daily LME stocks report.
On the September 3, 2026 figures.
Copper
Total Stock
234.7Kmt
7-Day
+0.16%
30-Day
+5.2%
Draining faster than usual
Aluminum
Total Stock
246.0Kmt
7-Day
-0.30%
30-Day
-4.1%
Zinc
Total Stock
110.5Kmt
7-Day
+12.8%
30-Day
+13.8%
Lead
Total Stock
396.8Kmt
7-Day
-2.3%
30-Day
-6.5%
Building faster than usual
Nickel
Total Stock
270.8Kmt
7-Day
+0.90%
30-Day
+2.4%
Tin
Total Stock
5.4Kmt
7-Day
-1.9%
30-Day
-4.3%
Draining faster than usual
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Common questions
- What is on-warrant stock on the LME?
- On-warrant stock is metal in LME-approved warehouses that is backed by a live warrant and available to settle contracts. It is the most liquid, immediately deliverable form of LME inventory and the figure most watched for squeeze risk.
- What is a cancelled warrant?
- A cancelled warrant is metal that an owner has earmarked for physical withdrawal from the warehouse. It is still on site but on its way out, so a rising share of cancelled warrants points to metal leaving the deliverable pool.
More questions
- What does falling LME inventory signal?
- Steadily falling on-warrant stock, especially alongside rising cancelled warrants and firmer prices, points to tightening physical availability. It tends to coincide with delivery pressure rather than predicting a price move on its own.
- What do contango and backwardation mean on the LME?
- Contango means metal for delivery in three months costs more than metal for delivery today, the normal state, because storing and financing metal has a cost. Backwardation is the reverse: cash metal costs more than the 3-month contract, which usually signals near-term tightness in physical supply.
What you're looking at
- On-warrant inventory
- LME-warranted metal in approved warehouses — the deliverable headline.
- 7-day / 30-day change
- Percent change in warehouse stocks vs the closest matching row that many days back.
- Sparkline
- ~30-day warehouse-stock trend, updated daily.
Data source
Official LME daily warehouse reports, sourced via Westmetall and refreshed daily.