Platts Friday assessed the premium for imported primary aluminum in the second quarter of 2017 at $128/mt plus London Metal Exchange cash, CIF main Japanese ports, up 35% from Q1.
The Q2 assessment was on the basis of 12 settlements at $128/mt plus LME cash CIF Japan for seaborne P1020/P1020A ingot loading over April to June, for a volume higher than 500 mt/month.
The total volume for the 12 settlements was 9,500 mt/month or more. All the settlements were under annual contracts in which the total volume was set for the year, but the premium is negotiated every quarter.
Platts specifications are for all quarterly settlements on a CIF main Japanese port basis, negotiated prior to Q2, between two unaffiliated counterparties for P1020/P1020A 99.7% primary aluminum ingot with payment in cash against documents for volumes of 500 mt/month or more.
Eight Q2 settlements were not taken into account for the assessment.
These three deals were also reported to have closed at $128/mt plus LME cash CIF Japan, but were determined to have fallen outside Platts specifications as they were for value-added products.
Five Q2 settlements were reported floating on published quarterly index of Platts, Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Reuters. One deal was confirmed done at $3/mt minus the Q2 premium.
Around 20 companies, comprising Japanese trading houses, consumers and overseas suppliers, took part in the negotiations that began in February.
