LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chile's Codelco, the world's

largest copper miner, is offering to sell the metal at a record

premium of $325 a metric ton to its European customers next

year, a 39% jump from this year, according to three copper

market sources.

Premiums set by Codelco for physical delivery of copper are

paid on top of the London Metal Exchange contract and

are often used as a benchmark for global contracts for the metal

used in the power and construction industries.

State-owned Codelco declined to comment.

The record high premium is due to fears of copper shortages

next year, which recently pushed LME copper to a 16-month high

of $11,000 a ton last week. It was around $10,600 on Thursday.

Miner Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ) last month declared force

majeure at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the world's

second-largest copper mine, after a mudslide. There has also

been disruption at the Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic

Republic of Congo and at Chile's El Teniente mine this year.

Europe's biggest copper smelter Aurubis will also

charge European customers a record premium at $315 a ton for

refined copper next year, according to market sources.