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 set the benchmark for the region.
For the January-March quarter, Japanese buyers agreed to pay
a premium of $85-$86 per tonne , down 13-14% from
the prior quarter.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)