State-controlled producer PT Timah has halted spot sales in reaction to lower tin prices while some private smelters have halted production, according to several reports this week.
“For now we are not selling on the spot market and are only fulfilling long-term commitments because prices at the moment are not high enough to support our activities yet,” Timah Corporate Secretary Agung Nugroho told Reuters. However President Director Sukrisno told Bloomberg that the company would not reduce production. Timah, which has so far committed 60% of this year’s production to supplying term contracts, will build up stockpiles as spot sales slow. The company sold 17, 236 tonnes of refined tin in the first half of this year and has an annual production target of 42,000 tonnes.
In a separate report a representative of Indonesia’s independent smelters told Bloomberg that market conditions had resulted in temporary plant closures. “Current prices cannot cover production costs anymore,” Hidayat Arsani, president of the Indonesian Tin Mining Association, said in an interview. “There are 28 smelters in Bangka and about half have stopped production.” He declined to identify the companies or specify their output.
