Provisional data released today by the Indonesian trade ministry shows refined tin exports of 5,848 tonnes in March, down by 37% compared to March 2013. The first quarter tonnage for this year, based on pre-shipment checks by surveyors, amounted to only 16,458 tonnes, down by 39% compared to Q1 2013.

A feature of the latest month’s data was that the proportion of tin shipped as solder and other non-ingot products was much lower than in previous months. The total comprised 4,840.6t of tin ingots, 431.9t of solder and 575t of other tin products, Bloomberg reported. The non-ingot products, currently not required to be traded via ICDX, accounted for 17% of sales last month, versus 42% in February.

ITRI View: The new export regulation that came into effect at the end of last August is clearly continuing to constrain shipments. The seizure of a shipment by the Indonesian navy in early March has also been taken as a warning sign by sellers of non-ingot products, resulting in almost a complete cessation in shipments of these products in the last few weeks. However so far most tin consumers do not yet appear very concerned about tin availability, possibly because they built up stocks in 2013.