China imported 41,251t tin concentrate (gross weight) in January – February, up by 89% year on year. 96% of the total was from Myanmar. The Chinese Spring Festival was much later this year than normal, and as a result the shipments in February were much bigger than in 2014. In addition, the fighting between government troops and rebel forces in the north of Myanmar also caused some panic selling in February. China imported 19,000t (gross weight) of tin concentrate in February, more than six times greater than in last February. Myanmar is expected to maintain the current high production in recent months for a little while, because production is highly seasonal and it is the dry season from November to May. However, the fall in the tin price and the instability to the north of the Wa state tin mining district has adversely impacted new investment in local mining, so any production increase should be limited.
The China price has generally been much higher than the LME price since last fourth quarter. The price differential became bigger in February and attracted more imports. China imported 1,126t refined tin in January–February, up by 20% year on year. Of the total, 891t refined tin was imported in February.
China refined tin production has kept rising with the increase in concentrate imports. China refined tin production increased by 7.6% to 27,579t in January-February, according to China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) data. However, the increase again reflects the late Spring Festival holiday, while the slump in price in March has brought huge risk and pressure for the producers and production will probably reduce in the following months.
