South Korean government halts aluminium purchase

Reuters reported that South Korea's state run Public Procurement Service will pause its stockpiling program and has no plans to make any large purchases in the near term due to high metal prices. PPS official said that "We are taking a pause and not planning any massive purchases in the immediate future as we have almost reached our target reserve and also current prices are quite high." The PPS, which in the H1 of the year had been a very active buyer in the physical metals market, last bought metal at the end of July, when it picked up 3,000 tonnes of aluminium at USD 119 per tonne. Since mid July, aluminium prices MAL3 have rallied to peaks above USD 2,100 per tonne from around USD 1,650. (Sourced from Reuters)