Latrobe Magnesium Limited signed an offtake agreement for Metal Exchange Corporation (MEC) to be its exclusive USA distributor to sell its magnesium into North, Central and South America and the Caribbean in the aluminium market. The distributor has committed to purchase a minimum of 40% of the plant planned production which equates to 4,000 tonnes of magnesium a year from LMG's planned 10,000 tpa production facility in Morwell Victoria. The deal will deliver excellent prices to LMG due to an anti-dumping duty payable on Chinese imports into US markets. MEC is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1974, MEC has grown from a regional aluminium scrap company to a global trader with offices in Switzerland, China, and Brazil. In the USA, MEC has six manufacturing plants employing over 700 employees. With a unique blend of marketing expertise and deep manufacturing excellence, MEC provides its customers an unparalleled array of products and services, directly supplying scores of aluminium and magnesium ingots under short and long term agreements. North and Central America currently uses 160,000 tonnes of magnesium a year and this is projected to increase with greater use of magnesium by the motor vehicle industry. There is only one magnesium pro ucer in North and Central America, with most magnesium imported from China. In the USA, there is an anti-dumping duty payable on imported China magnesium. The result of this duty is that the magnesium price in the USA is usually double the FOB China magnesium price. Under the USA-Australia fair trade agreement, magnesium produced in Australia is exempt from this import duty.