A global aluminium producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $85 per tonne for July-September primary metal shipments, up 3.7% from the current quarter, three sources directly involved in quarterly pricing talks said on Monday.

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 April-June quarter, Japanese buyers agreed to pay a premium of $82 per tonne PREM-ALUM-JP, down 1.2% from the prior quarter and booking the lowest since the October-December quarter in 2016.