Govt to regulate tin ore trading

The government will issue a new regulation to regulate the inter-island tin ore trade in 2007, a governmental official said.

The new rule will limit the tin ore business to only three areas: Bangka, Belitung and Riau Islands.

?The regulation is almost final. Surely, it will be issued this year,? Ministry of Trade's director of distribution and market development Gunaryo told Koran Tempo on Tuesday in Jakarta.

So far the government has been regulating the inter-island trade of rice, sugar and subsidized fertilizers as well as alcoholic drinks. But the office of Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs has asked the Ministry of Trade to regulate the tin ore trade, the paper said.

Meanwhile, director general of domestic trade Ardiansyah S. Parman said some people have used inter-island shipment of iron ore as a way to export the commodity to foreign countries, whereas the export of tin ore has already been banned.

Earlier, government announced plans to limit refined tin exports starting this year, Diah Maulida, director-general of Foreign Trade said on Dec 26.

Maulida said that in the future only tin smelters with mining permits would be allowed to export refined tin, and the refined tin should have a minimum purity of 99.85%. (*)