Codelco Ups 2010 Yokohama Copper Premium 15% - Traders

TOKYO, Nov. 9 -- Chile's Codelco has lifted its term premium for copper to the Japanese port of Yokohama to $75 a tonne in 2010, a rise of 15 percent from 2009 that reflects expectations of robust demand in parts of Asia, industry sources said on Monday.

    Codelco, owned by the Chilean government and the world's biggest copper miner left premiums for its European customers unchanged at $80 a tonne, industry sources said in September.

    An improving economic climate in Asia, with demand expected to be robust in China and South Korea led to a rise in premiums for the region, traders said.

    But they also said not all parts of Asia were expected to show a further pick-up in demand.

    "I don't think the view about copper demand in Japan is quite so bright," a source at one of the Japanese firms with a contract said.

    The source also said Codelco had only given word on the premium for Yokohama and not the other major ports in Nagoya and Osaka.

    The annual copper premium, which is above the cash price on the London Metal Exchange covers freight, insurance and other costs, was set at $65 to Japan in 2009.

    The Codelco premium to China has not been set yet, and buyers have said that talks should be held next week.

    Large-scale Chinese imports which hit successive record highs in the first half of the year pushed apparent consumption in China up by 48 percent to 5.57 million tonnes in the first nine month of the year.

    A shortage of scrap and restocking by the State Reserves Bureau helped draw in huge volumes of metal. Real consumption for the year is seen up 10.2 percent at 5.4 million tonnes, and will rise 8 percent in 2010 to 5.83 million tonnes, state research body Antaike said.

    (Source: Reuters)