Rio Tinto seeks Oct-Dec aluminium premium of $420/T from Japan buyers

(Repeats story published late Tuesday; no changes to text)

TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) has offered Japanese buyers aluminium at a record premium of $420 per tonne for October-December primary metal shipments, up 3-5 percent from the previous quarter, four sources involved in pricing talks said on Tuesday.

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 (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region.

"Rio has proposed a fresh record premium of $420 for the October-December quarter. Other major producers such as Alcoa and BHP Billiton Ltd have not given their offers," said a source with a buyer who declined to be named.

Some buyers said they would not accept any further hikes as the supply in Asia including Japan is not as tight as the rest of the world and inventories at Japanese ports are on the rise.

Other buyers said a small increase may be inevitable as spot premiums in the United States and Europe have risen to around $440-450, and demand in Japan has been solid despite a sales tax hike from April.

Rio Tinto's offer was below the $460 offer made by Russia's United Company Rusal Plc (HKSE: 0486.HK - news) last week.

Rio Tinto could not be reached by phone for comment.

"Still, Rusal's offer is way too high. There is no reason to justify that big jump," another source with a buyer said.

Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports at the end of July rose 2.2 percent from a month earlier to 274,400 tonnes, according to trading house Marubeni Corp.

Backed by healthy demand for automobiles and construction, Japan's shipment of rolled-aluminium products, excluding export, rose 6.6 percent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, according to the Japan Aluminium Association.

The latest quarterly pricing negotiations between Japanese buyers and global miners began last week as Rusal kicked off talks at its record high premium offer of $460 over LME prices. The pricing talks are expected to continue to next month.

For the July-September quarter, Japanese aluminium buyers mostly agreed to pay record high premiums of $400-$408 per tonne (PREM-ALUM-JP), over LME prices, up 8-12 percent from the quarter before that. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Tom Hogue)