London 30/08/2016 - South Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS) has bought a total of 2,000 tonnes of duty-free aluminium ingots at premiums of $60.5-64.3 per tonne basis cost, insurance and freight (CIF) Korea, it said today.
The premiums are a marked 39 percent difference from the last time PPS bought aluminium; at $101-104 per tonne CIF Korea in May, which were also tax free.
PPS purchased the aluminium in two 1,000 tonne tranches, both of which were won by South Korean trading house LG International.
LG will supply PPS with 1,000 tonnes of Indian aluminium ingots which qualifies as import duty-free at a premium of $60.5 per tonne basis CIF to the port of Inchon.
The company will also supply PPS with 1,000 tonnes of Australian ingots (also duty-free) at a premium of $64.3 per tonne basis CIF to the port of Busan.
Competition in the tenders was fierce, sources said, with up to 12 parties said to have submitted bids this time around.
Current spot CIF premiums for South Korea are $55-65 per tonne, the market there is laden with material from duty-free locations which is widely available from warehouses, sources said today.
(Editing by Tom Jennemann)