Indonesia refined tin exports jump 35% in February

Exports of refined Tin from Indonesia jumped 35% Year-on-Year in February, as per the latest official data. Indonesia is the largest tin exporter in the world.

February exports were recorded at 83224.73 tonnes, up from 6181.42 tonnes from the same month last year. When compared to January 2012 exports of 5380.43 tonnes, Feb exports were up 55%.

At the London Metal Exchange (LME) tin prices are currently trading around $22500/tonne, up from just above $19000/tonne during the start of the year. However, the price rise could be unsustainable due to soft Chinese imports.

A Barclay report states “The implication is that (Chinese) imports will soften in Q1, lowering the call on LME stocks. Providing some balance, however, has been the impact of adverse weather condition in Indonesia, which saw January exports fall to 5.3Kt from 15.1Kt in December. Such weather conditions may impede mining activity until April, which may well keep the tin market balanced until Chinese domestic demand starts to improve”

Last year, Indonesia’s tin exporters had imposed a ban on exports of tin in order to push up prices from the depressed level. They, however, restarted exports once it became clear that the action had failed to raise prices.

Tags: base metals, Indonesia Tin exports, metal prices, tin future, tin future price, tin price, tin price 2012, tin prices

Posted by admin on Mar 16 2012. Filed under Tin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry