Some Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay a global producer a premium of $350 per metric ton over the benchmark price for shipments from April to June, up 79% from the current quarter, two sources directly involved in the pricing talks said.

Japan is a major Asian importer of aluminium 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.

Negotiations are still ongoing, one of the sources said, noting other producers have yet to make concrete offers.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))