Annual Chinese trade figures released this week show a 56% fall in refined tin imports and a 99% rise in tin metal exports last year, while concentrate imports, mainly from Myanmar, more than tripled in volume.
China’s total refined tin imports in 2013 were 13,141t, according China Customs data. This is the lowest since 2009, when trade was hit by the global financial crisis. The fall was due to high tin stocks in the domestic market and weak demand, resulting in narrow import profit margins. Although demand and prices are expected to rise in 2014, the refined tin imports might not recover to the level of 2012 as stocks are still high.
China exported 3,450t refined tin in 2013, almost double the previous year and boosted by the Indonesian supply bottleneck from September to November. However the official figures under-state actual exports, which might have been more than 5,000t, based on available import statistics of third countries.
China imported 96,568t tin concentrate (gross weight) in 2013, more than triple in 2012 level. Of the total 92% was from Myanmar, with an estimated tin content of more than 10,000t. China imported 15,275t tin concentrate (gross weight) in December alone, up by 391% y-o-y. It was the second highest monthly imports in 2013, a bit lower than the imports of 17,661t in January last year.
