Indonesia’s Tin Exports Rise For First Time Since July

 Refined tin shipments from Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter, expanded last month for the first time since July because of higher prices, the country’s trade ministry said.
     Exports climbed 27 percent from a month earlier to 8,766.9 Commodities (CMD) metric tons, trade ministry data showed today. Sales were Commodities Markets 7,059.7 tons in October last year.
     Increased supplies may curb a rally that has seen prices of Metals (MET) the metal used for soldering and packaging jump 52 percent this year, driven by concern that heavy rains in Indonesia would lower production and shrink stockpiles amid rising demand.
     “Exporters increased shipments to take benefit from higher Tin (TIN) prices,” Djunaedi, head of mining exports at the trade ministry, said in an interview in Jakarta today.
     The metal was shipped by 26 Indonesian companies to 11 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. Shipments to Singapore were 6,994.7 tons, or 80 percent of the total,
Djunaedi said. Indonesia has 34 registered tin exporters.
     In January through October, the country shipped 75,778.3 tons of refined tin, 8 percent less than the same period a year earlier, the ministry said.
     Tin shipments from the country may slump 19 percent this year to about 80,000 tons after a longer-than-usual rainy season caused by La Nina hampered mining, Alberth Tubogu, export director for mining and industry products at the trade ministry, said Sept. 20.
     Tin for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange Commodities Markets gained 0.2 percent to $25,750 a ton at 12:33 p.m. Jakarta time. Commodities reached an all-time high of $27,500 a ton on Nov. 9.