SIP Resources Believes it is in the Perfect Position to Profit from the Proposed Changes on Tin Exports
Indonesia has put a tight squeeze on the tin market since it changed regulations surrounding trade of the metal in August 2013. However, the country's government has indicated that could change soon with amendments to last fall's export rules.
Indonesia, October 20, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Indonesia is planning to amend its rules surrounding tin exports. Specifically, the island nation will reverse a rule under which all tin solder exports would have had to trade on a local exchange as of January 2015. The amendment will be a welcome change as Indonesia is the largest exporter of refined tin globally, and the current requirement that all refined tin be traded on local exchanges has meant raised prices so far this year.
Tin has averaged above $23,000 a ton thus far in 2014. The publication pointed to this year’s tin deficit as a contributing factor, citing stats from the World Bureau of Metal Statistics’ recent monthly bulletin — it shows that tin was in the red by 300 tons in the first quarter of 2014. That deficit is fairly small, and is a far way off from the 12,400-ton deficit predicted by industry group ITRI for this year, but it has still drawn concern over supply.
So far, announcements have focused on amendments to the export of tin solder. Bachrul Chairi, Indonesia’s director general of foreign trade, said that there will also be changes to the rules surrounding ingot, pure and non-ingot and tin in other forms, but the official did not specify what those changes will be, according to Reuters.
On tin solder, SIP Resources believes the changes will be good for the industry “[i]n the amendment of the tin export regulation, tin solder will be freed from the obligation to be traded at a local commodity exchange because tin solder is not considered as a raw material anymore, but a finished product.” The change will certainly be appreciated by tin consumers, and by electronics producers in particular.