TOKYO, June 19 (Reuters) - A Japanese aluminium buyer has agreed to pay a global producer a premium of $132 per tonne over the benchmark price for shipments in July to September, the highest in more than three years, two sources involved in the pricing talks said on Tuesday.
That is 2 percent higher than the $129 per tonne premium PREM-ALUM-JP in the current quarter and marks the third consecutive quarterly increase. But it is much lower than the initial offers of $159-$160 made by producers. is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the benchmark London Metal Exchange cash price set the benchmark for the region.
The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began late last month between Japanese buyers and global producers, including Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Corp AA.N , Rio Tinto RIO.L , RIO.AX , South32 Ltd S32.AX and Rusal 0486.HK .
Other Japanese buyers are still negotiating with global suppliers, with further deals expected later this month.