The London Metal Exchange is ready to expand its suite of approved warehouses in Hong Kong after licensing the first last year, according to Chief Executive Officer Matthew Chamberlain.

The world’s preeminent metals bourse is examining “how we can really open this up and hopefully get from tens of thousands of tons to hundreds of thousands of tons, which we know would be the natural demand here,” Chamberlain said in a speech at LME Asia Week in Hong Kong.

The LME added sites in the special administrative region to its global network of warehouses last year, cutting down on delivery time and costs and streamlining commodities trading among international traders, particularly those from the Chinese mainland. 

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There are now 15 approved warehouses in Hong Kong, storing nearly 24,000 tons of copper, tin and zinc, according to bourse data. That puts the sites almost at capacity, Bonnie Chan Yi-ting, chief executive officer of LME-owner Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd, said earlier at the same event.

Chamberlain said the take-up is “more than I could have hoped for last year,” and validates the city’s importance as a transit point for metals.