TOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) - Some Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay a premium of $115 per tonne for primary metal to be shipped in the April-June quarter, three sources directly involved in the quarterly pricing talks said.
The deal, reached with one global metal producer, marks a 4.5 percent rise from a $110 per tonne premium PREM-ALUM-JP in the previous quarter, a second straight quarter-on-quarter increase, reflecting lower inventories at home.
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.
The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began last month between Japanese buyers and global producers, including Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) AA.N , Rio Tinto RIO.L RIO.AX and South32 Ltd S32.AX , with initial offers ranging between $125-130 a tonne, according to sources.