Indonesian tin gains share in Japan market
Indonesia accounted for over 61% of Japan’s refined tin imports in 2009, according to an analysis of customs statistics by the trading company Mitsubishi Corporation Unimetals. Japan’s total refined tin imports last year fell by 30% to 22,107 tonnes, while...
Peru’s tin production falls in 2009
Official mine production figures released this week show that Peru’s production of tin-in-concentrates fell by 3.9% to 37,503 tonnes last year. The country’s production of lead, zinc, molybdenum and iron ore also declined, although there were small...
Indonesia police seize more ore
Local police on Indonesia's Bangka island seized 37 tonnes of illegal tin ore on Friday from a warehouse, a police official told Reuters, marking the second seizure this year. Police had previously seized 5 tonnes of illegal tin ore from another warehouse on 15...
Record imports by China
China’s imports of refined tin in December amounted to 1,176 tonnes, bringing the annual total in 2009 to a record 20,741 tonnes, up 108% on the previous year. Customs data released on Thursday also showed booming imports of all other LME metals. The main...
Vinto production surges
Production by Empresa Metalurgica Vinto (EMV), Bolivia’s state-owned tin smelter, increased by 24% to 11,805 tonnes in 2009. This is the highest annual production figure achieved at the plant since the late 1990s. EMV was re-nationalised in February 2007 after...
Yunnan Tin capital raising
The Yunnan Tin group is embarking on two capital raising exercises later this month, with the listed Yunnan Tin Company carrying out a rights issue and the group holding company issuing three year notes. In total some RMB 2.2 billion yuan (US$322 million) is to be...
Indonesian consortium re-starts smelters
Indonesia's Bangka Belitung Timah Sejahtera (BBTS), a consortium of seven private tin smelters, has restarted operations after almost two months. "We restarted production last week but only on a small scale of perhaps 10-20% of capacity. We still don't have...
LME trading volumes down, but tin soars
The London Metal Exchange releases annual trading figures for 2009 on Friday, unveiling the second highest trading volumes in the Exchange’s history. After four years of record volume trading, LME activity remained relatively flat in 2009, with total volumes of...
Indonesian miners must supply domestic market first
Indonesia, the world’s biggest tin exporter and Asia’s largest shipper of power-station coal, may force miners to cut production if they fail to supply the domestic market under a regulation that took effect at the start of this year, Bloomberg reports....