PT Timah reported a 41% year-on-year fall in net profit and a 20% decline in refined tin production in the first quarter of 2012. The state-controlled tin company said that net profit in the period was Rp 207.7 billion (US$23 million), with the positive impact of higher sales volumes more than offset by lower realised prices compared to the first quarter of last year, when LME prices were rising towards an all-time peak of over $30,000/tonne. In the latest quarter the average realised price for tin was $23,101/tonne, compared to an average delivered cost of $20,047/tonne.
Refined tin sales in January-March were 9,022 tonnes, up 13% year-on-year, supported by a rundown in inventories of refined metal from 6,489 tonnes at end-December to 4,163 tonnes at end-March. Refined tin production from the company’s two smelters was 6,942 tonnes, while tin-in-concentrate production (including ore supplied by small mines operating within Timah’s mining leases) fell by 9% to 7,407 tonnes. While less severe monsoon weather than last year permitted a 24% increase in offshore production compared to the same period of 2011, supply from inland operations slumped by 33%. Offshore production accounted for 58% of total mine supply in the period.
At Timah’s annual shareholder meeting on 19 April a member of its new board of directors said that the company was targeting production of 40,000 – 45,000 tonnes in 2012. The entire board has been replaced, with Sukrisno, previously the president director of Indonesia’s state-owned thermal coal company PT Bukit Asam, appointed as President Director.
