TOKYO, Dec 24 (Reuters) – A Japanese aluminium buyer has agreed to pay a global producer a premium of $177 per tonne over the benchmark price for shipments in January to March, down 20% from the current quarter, two sources directly involved in the pricing talks said on Friday.
The figure is lower than the $220 per tonne paid in the October-December quarter and marks a first quarterly drop in six. It is also lower than the initial offers of $193-$195 per tonne made by producers.
Japan is Asia’s biggest importer of the light metal and the premiums PREM-ALUM-JP for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price CMAL0 set the benchmark for the region.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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