Traders say overseas suppliers and Japanese aluminum buyers have been slow to negotiate on aluminum-to-water shipments to Japan in the April-June quarter of 2007. Overseas suppliers are striving to maintain aluminum premiums, but Japanese buyers are trying hard to reduce their Quarterly aluminum premium. Traders said that since the beginning of this week, Japanese buyers and overseas aluminum suppliers have negotiated premium water for high-quality Western aluminum ingots arriving in Japan in the second quarter. However, in the early negotiations, Japanese aluminum buyers were not in a hurry to sign contracts with suppliers, and aluminum suppliers were also reluctant to downgrade their aluminum prices in the second quarter. Traders said that Japanese buyers have not yet received official quotation from suppliers, but suppliers hope that the arrival of Japanese aluminum in the second quarter will be roughly the same as in the first quarter. CIF aluminum ingots delivered to Japan by Japanese buyers in the first quarter were US$76-77/ton higher than the LME current price, which was lower than the US$82-83/ton in the fourth quarter of 2006. At that time, the aluminum premium was almost the same for the past two years. The high point. Japanese importers and end-users hope that the second quarter's aluminum premium will be even lower. Some buyers hope that the aluminum premium will be finalized around US$70/ton in the second quarter. A Japanese trader stated that “it is impossible to achieve a similar level of aluminum to water in the first quarter, which is unacceptable. It is certain that the second quarter's aluminum premium will be lower than the first quarter’s level. Inventory is still at a high level, and supply will not be very tight in the second quarter.†Suppliers think that the current economic fundamentals of Japan are generally consistent with the signing of aluminum premium in the first quarter, and usually the demand for aluminum in Japan increases in the second quarter, so supply Businesses are reluctant to lower their aluminum price premiums. According to the data, the volume of shipments of Japan's Touhoku rolled products increased by 4.6% year-on-year to 181,082 tons, which was the sixth consecutive year-on-year increase. However, Japanese buyers said that aluminum demand has slowed since the beginning of the year, leading to high aluminum inventory. As of the end of January, aluminum inventories at the three major ports in Japan totaled 243,200 tons, an increase of about 4% from the previous quarter. Traders said that the aluminum supply premium negotiations between Japanese buyers and overseas suppliers will continue next week. Japan is the largest net importer of aluminum in Asia and consumes 2.4-2.5 million tons of aluminum per year on average. Japan's aluminum premium is usually regarded as the benchmark for aluminum production in the region.