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....
Indonesia’s tin exports up in December
Indonesia's refined tin exports in December were estimated at 8,508 tonnes, up 124% from 3,806 tonnes in the same month a year ago, according to trade ministry data reported by Reuters on Tuesday. The data comes from surveying companies employed by the ministry to...
Bloomberg poll predicts metal price declines
A survey of metals analysts published by Bloomberg on Monday indicated that copper, lead and other industrial metals may decline from current prices, after increasing sharply last year, partly on expectations that supply will outpace demand. Bloomberg surveyed 23...
Koba Tin output below target in 2009
Indonesia’s PT Koba Tin produced 6,150 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate in 2009, up on the previous year’s mine output but below the company’s original target. "The floods in May as well as the thinning ore grades in Koba Tin's mining areas have...