TOKYO, March 8 (Reuters) - Three global aluminium producers have offered Japanese buyers a premium of $135 per tonne for shipments in the April to June quarter, up 42 percent from the previous quarter, three sources direcly involved in the pricing talks said on Wednesday.
Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price CMAL0 set the benchmark for the region.
For the January-March quarter, Japanese buyers mostly agreed to pay a premium of $95 per tonne PREM-ALUM-JP , up 27 percent from the prior quarter. latest quarterly pricing negotiations began last month between Japanese buyers and miners including South32 Ltd S32.AX , Rio Tinto Ltd RIO.AX RIO.L and United Company Rusal Plc 0486.HK , and are expected to continue through this month.