* New premium is highest in three years
* Higher premium reflects surging U.S. spot prices
* Some buyers still in talks as fallout from U.S. tariffsunclear(Adds comments, details)
TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Some Japanese aluminium buyershave agreed to pay a premium of $129 per tonne for shipmentsfrom global producers in the April to June quarter, reflectingsoaring U.S. spot premiums, two sources directly involved in thepricing talks said on Monday.
The new premium is 25 percent higher than the $103 per tonnepremiums <PREM-ALUM-JP> in the current quarter. The premium isthe highest in three years and marks the second quarterlyincrease in a row.
Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and thepremiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay eachquarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set thebenchmark for the region.
The quarterly pricing negotiations began last month betweenJapanese buyers and global producers, including Alcoa Corp, Rio Tinto and South32 Ltd,with initial offers for premiums ranging between $132 and $135 atonne.
The increase reflects a surge in U.S. spot premiums to thehighest in almost three years after U.S. President Donald Trumpflagged a 10 percent import duty, as buyers sought to securemetal before higher costs come into force.
Trump pressed ahead last Thursday with the import tariffsbut exempted Canada and Mexico and offered the possibility ofexcluding other allies, backtracking from an earlier"no-exceptions" stance.
U.S. spot premiums for Comex aluminium reached to around18.5 cents a pound ($408 a tonne) last week, highestsince April 2015.
"We struck deals at $129 per tonne with three producers lastweek after securing that level below their initial offers," asource at a Japanese trading house said.
A source at another trading company said his company agreedto $129 per tonne for some of its contracts, but other buyerssaid they were still negotiating as fallout from the U.S.tariffs was not entirely clear.
On Friday, Trump said he has spoken with Australian PrimeMinister Malcolm Turnbull and that they are working on anagreement so Australia would not be subject to U.S. tariffs onsteel and aluminium.
"Global suppliers which have smelters in Australia may raisetheir offers once the exemption is confirmed as it is by farmore profitable to bring metals to the U.S. than to Asia evenafter paying transportation costs now," the first trading housesource said.
"But we may see higher supply in Asia as some metals to beshut out from the U.S. may head to Asia, which could weigh onpremiums," a source at a fabricator said.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Joseph Radford and TomHogue)
Rio Tinto (RIO)
South32 (S32)
