Chinese Tin production falls, concentrate imports rise

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The latest figures published by Chinese government authorities indicate that the country’s tin production has fallen considerably during the year. On the other hand, tin concentrate imports have jumped higher significantly.

The tin mine production has witnessed marked slowdown during 2015. A handful of high-cost mines were closed during the year. The secondary refined tin production by the country has dropped significantly by nearly 25% over the previous year. In addition, sharp decline in tin prices have forced many smelters to idle their operations or cut production capacities. Refined tin production by custom smelters has seen a decline of 10-50% during recent months.

According to figures released by the China Nonferrous Metals Association (CNIA), the refined tin production in China during January to September this year totaled 122,074 t, lower by 3.2% when compared with the production during the corresponding nine-month period in 2014. The plunge in tin prices during October and November is likely to inflate the drop in production during the entire year 2015. As per estimates, the refined tin production during the whole year 2015 is likely to remain 7% lower year-on-year at around 162,000 t.

Meantime, the country’s tin concentrate imports skyrocketed by 170% to 27,043 t in gross weight during October this year. Myanmar accounted for 96% of the Chinese tin concentrate imports. The cumulative tin concentrate imports during the initial ten months of the year totaled 209,356 t. The imports during this period witnessed sharp rise of 68% over the previous year.

China imported 733 t refined tin in Oct ’15, marginally higher when compared with the previous month. The cumulative refined tin imports during January to October this year were up 18% at 7,510 t. The exports of refined tin have declined considerably during the past few months. The cumulative exports during the initial ten-month period of the year totaled around 3,000 t.