Latest China customs data released yesterday shows imports of tin ore and concentrates at 46,197 tonnes gross weight in April, or an estimated 5,500 tonnes contained tin. The April total was similar to the previous month’s figure, but up by 40% compared to April 2015. In the first four months of this year, imports from Myanmar totalled 174,868 tonnes or close to an estimated 21,000 tonnes tin content.
ITRI View: The imports from the Man Maw area of Wa County are likely to remain at a similar high level in May, but should then decline significantly with the onset of the rainy season, which usually runs from June to October. We estimate that Myanmar’s mine production of tin-in-concentrate this year will rise to some 47,000 tonnes, but this is based on some widely divergent underlying trends. Mining activity at some 200 sites in the Man Maw area is reported by informed sources to have declined considerably this year, with the number of workers having more than halved from peak levels. However there are sizeable stockpiles of ore above ground and available for processing and there is always a possibility of new sites being discovered and exploited.
