PHYSICALS - Indonesian tin exports soar in April, smelters look to exploit permits

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Archie Hunterarchie.hunter@fastmarkets.comDeputy Head of Physicals+44 (0) 20 7337 2143

London 06/05/2016 - Refined tin exports from Indonesia soared in April, according to official government data published by industry body ITRI.

Exports from Indonesia totalled 6,911 tonnes in April, up from just 2,719 tonnes in March and 4,505 tonnes in February.

During April, premiums for 99.9 percent purity tin ingots dropped to $80-110 per tonne from $90-120 at the start of the month.

Moreover, tin exports from Indonesia, a key supplier of the metal globally, are down 34 percent compared with the first four months of 2015.

Exports from Indonesia have increased because smelters are shipping the remaining tonnages from their six-month export permits that started in November, market sources suggested.

Export figures in April were also boosted by the final shipments of tin from Indonesia's second-biggest tin producer, RBT, which is closing its smelting operations.

The vast majority of RBT's output has been already allocated to trading partners and is not available on the spot market, sources said.

Exports from Indonesia dropped to a 12-year low in 2015 and are set to fall again, according to Jabin Sufianto, president of the Association of Indonesian Tin Exporters (AETI).

Sufitano, speaking at ITRI's International Tin Conference in Lima last week, forecast that annual exports in 2016 will be around 66,000 tonnes, ITRI added.

This below the volume he forecast in January - he told FastMarkets that he expected exports to be closer to 70,000 tonnes.


(Editing by Mark Shaw)



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