Reuters reported that Rio Tinto has offered Japanese buyers aluminium at a record premium of USD 420 per tonne for October to December primary metal shipments, up 3% to 5% from the previous quarter.

Sources involved in pricing talks said that Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange cash price CMAL0 set the benchmark for the region.

Rio Tinto's offer was below the USD 460 offer made by Russia's United Company Rusal Plc last week.

For the July to September quarter, Japanese aluminium buyers mostly agreed to pay record high premiums of USD 400 per tonne to USD 408 per tonne PREM ALUM JP, over LME prices, up 8% to 12% from the quarter before that.

(Source - www.steelguru.com)