Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange, the world's largest metals bourse, said it may start reporting daily inventories earlier than the current 9 a.m. London time, making the numbers available when online trading begins.

``The timeliness of this information is obviously very important,'' Anna Campopiano, LME director of corporate affairs, said in a telephone interview. The exchange reports stockpiles of six base metals and two aluminum alloys in approved warehouses.

One possibility is releasing the data at 7 a.m., when the online system LME Select starts, Campopiano said. Software and delivery issues must be investigated first, she said.

Traders in copper, aluminum, nickel and other base metals monitor LME inventories to gauge world supplies. Metals prices have soared in the past two years, mostly because of rising demand from China.

The New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division offers trading in copper and the Shanghai Futures Exchange in China handles copper and aluminum contracts. Both exchanges track inventories for the metals they trade.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Craze in London at mcraze@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 12, 2004 13:08 EDT