First quarter results belatedly published by PT Timah on 30 June showed that it had boosted production but reduced sales in January-March. In interviews with the Jakarta Post and Reuters last week, the state-controlled company’s President Director Sukrisno said that it may also continue to hold back in July if prices remain below US$23,000/tonne. “I said stop sales for one or two weeks. It’s okay. At the end of the day, the price will increase,” he told the Jakarta Post. “But we have to prepare the cash flow because production must go on. Production must not be reduced. That’s our strategy.”
In a release accompanying its Q1 results Timah Corporate Secretary Agung Nugroho said that its selling price will be boosted by low supply from Indonesian producers due to the export regulation that came into effect last August but that the company’s production was rising as “an increasing number of corporate partners and mining communities understand and accept the rules”.
January-March production of tin-in-concentrate rose by 44% year on year to 6,213, mainly due to a much increased supply from onshore small-scale mining partners. Meanwhile refined tin production increased by 8% to 5,148 tonnes, but sales fell by 26% to 4,319 tonnes. As a result stocks of tin ore, slags and refined metal all rose in the quarter, with refined metal inventory growing to 4,371 tonnes and raw material stocks 9,184 tonnes, mainly in the form of tin in slags. Timah’s net income in Q1 fell by 25% year-on-year to Rp 95.1 billion (US$8.3 million).
