Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Indonesia Books $1.34b From Tin Export

Source: The Jakarta Post

Despite a restrictive regulation on tin exports passed last year, Indonesia booked a total of US$1,345 billion from tin exports from the beginning of March 2007 to the end of February this year.

The Trade Ministry's director for the export of mining and industrial products, Hartojo Agus Tjahjono, said Monday that over the period, 15 companies had exported 93,735 tons of tin bars.

According to the ministry's data, 17 companies are registered as tin bar exporters.

Throughout 2006, the country earned $913 million from the export of tin bars, up from $903.8 million in the previous year.

The government on Feb. 23 tightened the regulations on the export of tin bars as a result of a mushrooming of illegal tin mining sites.

Under minister of trade Regulation No. 4/2007, tin may only be exported by companies registered by the ministry, and all tin bars and tin sand must contain a minimum of 99.85 percent tin.

The government has also appointed PT Surveyor Indonesia and PT Sucofindo to verify compliance with the new standards.

The price of tin bars gradually increased soon after the regulation was imposed, from around $9,000 per ton to $19,000 per ton.

The export of unprocessed tin bars in 2005 mostly went to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, while processed tin bars went to China, Japan and Singapore.

Although total tin exports showed a strong performance last year, in February this year the export of tin bars dropped due to the closure of the second biggest tin export company in Indonesia, PT Koba Tin, in late January.

According to the ministry report, the export of tin bars in February reached 7,431 tons valued at $118.41 million, a drop from 9,914 tons valued at $156.05 million in January.

This year, PT Tambang Timah is targeting production of 55,000 to 60,000 tons of tin bars, 95 percent of which are for export. Usually, PT Koba Tin produces around half of the total volume produced by PT Tambang Timah.