Asia Metals-Physical copper premiums ease; zinc games develop

* Copper premiums ease; no lift from Codelco term hike * Zinc firm, but stocks in China may migrate to LME By Nick Trevethan SINGAPORE, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Copper premiums in Asia remained low this week as pressure from rising stocks across the region mounts. Copper in Singapore commanded a premium of $20 to $40 a tonne above the London Metal Exchange cash price , down from around $50 last month, traders in the city-state said. Material in South Korea was available at $15 to $20. "Buyers don't want to pay much above $20, but those with metal are still reluctant to sell, it's created a stalemate," one merchant said. "What is interesting is that copper is being offered for sale out of China. Premiums there are running flat to $20 for LME metal in bonded warehouses. That, along with the fairly high stocks in LME globally is keeping premiums soft." China is the world's largest copper consumer and imported nearly 2.6 million tonnes of cathode in the first nine months of the year, almost half of which came from Chile. Earlier this week, three Chinese buyers reported an agreement with Chile's Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, to buy metal for 2010 at a premium of $85. "No one in China was very impressed with the Codelco numbers. The mood is to skip taking annually contracted metal, at least for the first quarter. There is plenty of stock and if they need metal India is a willing seller," a trader in Hong Kong said. Away from copper, zinc was starting to attract attention. Premiums in Singapore were $30 to $40, up from $25/$35 last month. "The biggest game this year is taking place in zinc. People are focusing on zinc as a metal with upside, but the word is there is more than a million tonnes in China," another Singapore-based merchant said. "This year's surplus has been shipped to China and hidden as trading houses imported large volumes to take advantage of the arbitrage. We are now nearing annual bank loans have to be paid back. People are looking for cash and want to ship out to LME." LME zinc stocks jumped almost 16,000 tonnes on Wednesday to a four-year high of 440,650 after a big delivery into New Orleans. Stocks in Asia are around 100,000 tonnes. The merchant estimated China's State Reserves Bureau held 175,000 tonnes, 125,000 tonnes was held in bonded warehouses, trading houses and speculators were sitting on between 520,000 and 650,000 tonnes, smelters had 250,000 tonnes and consumers some 100,000 tonnes of metal. The global zinc market was in surplus by 341,000 tonnes in the first nine months of 2009, the Lisbon-based International Lead and Zinc Study Group's (ILZSG) latest monthly bulletin showed. In other metals, aluminium in Singapore traded at $80 to $90, up slightly, while in South Korea the level was $120. South Korea will tender for at least another 5,000 tonnes of aluminium ingot before the end of this year before wrapping up its purchase programme for 2009, a source at South Korea's Public Procurement Service (PPS). In its last tender the agency on Oct. 26 bought 3,000 tonnes of aluminium from LG International at a premium of $119 a tonne on a cost, insurance and freight basis, and 2,000 tonnes of aluminium from BHP Billiton at $115. Lead was available in Singapore at $80. Full plate nickel was $30 to $50 while four-by-four cut was $100. Indonesia tin traded at $20 to $50.