TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay producers a premium of $90 to $93 per tonne for metal imported in the July-September quarter, six sources directly involved in the quarterly pricing talks said.
The deals, which mark a 19 to 23 percent fall from premiums of $115 to 117 per tonne PREM-ALUM-JP in the previous quarter, are the first decline since the October-December quarter of 2015, and are in line with a slide in overseas surcharges for physical aluminium.
Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium 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.