Japan 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 (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. "We have settled the deals, at $125 a tonne with one producer and at $130 with two producers," said one of the sources, who negotiates the premiums for a Japanese aluminium fabricator. The increase reflected tighter supply and higher premiums other markets in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia, said another of the sources, from a Japanese trading house. But other buyers are still negotiating, with hopes to finalise deals next week, said two other sources at Japanese end-users. The quarterly pricing talks, which began in late February between Japanese buyers and global suppliers, including Rio Tinto Ltd and South32 Ltd , have dragged on for almost a month longer than usual because of a wide gap in two sides' market outlooks. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by John Stonestreet and Christian Schmollinger)
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By Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Some Japanese aluminium
buyers have agreed to pay global producers premiums in the
April-June quarter of 2023 that are as much as 53% higher than
the previous quarter, reflecting higher overseas prices, sources
involved in the price talks said.
The Japanese buyers will pay premiums of between $125-$130
per tonne for shipments in April to June, the five sources, who
declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the
discussions, said this week.
That is up from the $85-$86 per tonne paid in the
January-March quarter and marks the first quarterly increase in
six. The higher prices are in line with or lower than the
initial offers of $125-$145 per tonne made by producers.
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