India's NALCO to float alumina sale tender in Dec

MUMBAI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Indian state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) (NALU.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) will float a tender for the sale of 30,000 tonnes of alumina in the third week of December, the company's chairman said on Wednesday. The company expects a price of $206 a tonne, C.R. Pradhan told Reuters. "We sold alumina (through an earlier tender) at $206 a tonne for December shipment ... we would expect the same," he said. NALCO's tenders often serve as a benchmark for prices in the global aluminium and alumina industry. On Wednesday, NALCO floated a tender to buy washed coal for its plants that was to be procured from the domestic market. Pradhan said the washed coal tender was for the purchase of 100,000 tonnes of the commodity and was expected to meet the company's requirements until March. Pradhan said he expected to pay 4,000 rupees per tonne ($80) for the coal. In an interview last month, Pradhan had said the company expected to sell 360,000 tonnes of aluminium and 1.58 million tonnes of alumina in 2008/09 despite a global economic slowdown. ($1=50 rupees)