The London Metal Exchange has for the first time listed a brand belonging to one of Indonesia’s 30 plus independent smelters as good delivery. Approval for the IMLI brand produced by PT Bukit Timah was effective from 22 June. PT Bukit Timah’s plant, with a rated capacity of 12,000 tpy, is located in Pangkal Pinang, the main town on Bangka island. Bukit Timah is a wholly owned subsidiary of Indoprima Group, a holding company operating in non-ferrous metals and mining businesses, as well as the automotive industry. Indoprima Group also controls the lead producer PT Indra Eramulti Logam Industri (IMLI).
Until now the only LME listed Indonesian brands belonged to the two main integrated producers, PT Timah and PT Koba Tin. However over half of the country’s metal production now comes from private smelters, although most of this is currently re-refined in Thailand, Malaysia or China.
PT Bukit Timah’s smelter is operating at a monthly average of 600-800 tonnes, depending on availability of tin ore and weather, and exports to Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Pakistan, China, Netherlands, Spain and Australia, spokesman Dian Trihardjo told Metal Bulletin. “Our market in Europe is still very small with less than 10% of our total sales. We want to expand this market and have been talking to end users in Spain, Netherlands, and Germany to potentially supply them,” he said.
