Up to a quarter of electronic trading volume on the London Metal Exchange (LME) comes from customers in Asia, its chief executive said, indicating the bourse has a robust base for its drive into the region.

It is the first time the LME, the world's biggest marketplace for industrial metals such as copper and aluminum, has disclosed the size of electronic trade from Asia and shows that while it has a toehold in the market, it still has huge room to grow.

"Ten to 25 percent on any given day of outright trading on the electronic system comes from Asia," LME CEO Garry Jones said at a conference in Hong Kong, adding that overall electronic trade volumes grew 28 percent last year.

The comments come as the LME is looking to boost business in top metals consumer China, as well as countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea, after being bought by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd in 2012.

As part of that push, Jones said the LME plans to increase its membership.

"We will be adding new membership in London," he said on Thursday. "We will also add membership into our HK platform ... because we will be launching commodity products in Hong Kong."

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced this week that it would launch yuan-denominated mini-futures contracts for copper, aluminum and zinc, as well as a thermal coal contract.

If successful, the new products could also rival the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), which sets the reference price for physical and futures metals trading in China.

The SHFE said Thursday it planned to launch a base metals contract as part of steps to internationalize its business.

Jones played down the impact of Barclays' decision this week to quit most of its commodities trading businesses, part of a broader retreat by banks as profits tumble in the face of tougher regulation.

Reuters