Vedanta sells 3,000 tonnes aluminium at premium

Bhubaneswar, June 20 (IANS) Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta group, India's largest aluminium producer, Wednesday said it has sold 3,000 tonnes of aluminium to an Asian buyer at $220 per tonne premium over the London Metal Exchange (LME) price.

The sale was on a cost insurance and freight basis, the company said in a statement.

"The metal will be shipped in three lots from July to September," it said.

"Globally, there is a tightness in the physical market due to closure of smelters in recent quarters in the wake of low LME price, which has resulted in all-round increase in premiums," it said.

Aluminium premiums are also increasing because of highly profitable financing deals and the fact that business consumers have to compete with warehouses to get hold of metal from producers, the company said.

While LME prices remain subdued because of the current economic situation in Europe, higher premiums were helping smelters stay afloat, it added.

Premiums in the US and Japan had already reached their record-high levels and this scenario was expected to continue unless there was an increase in interest rates, it said.