Increasing number of tin smelters collapse

Increasing number of tin smelters in the country has collapsed since last month. One of the reasons is a new government trade ruling requiring export of tin bars to be conducted via the platform of the Indonesia Commodity and Derivative Exchange (ICDX), the Koran Tempo daily reported Saturday.

The paper quoted Head of the Indonesian Tin Mining Association Hidayat Arsani as saying that many smelter players have find difficulties in obtaining the necessary tin ore raw material in the wake of the new trade regulation.

The new regulation issued by the Ministry of Trade requires the export of tin bars to be made via the ICDX exchange, and that tin traded in the bourse must have stannum (Sn) content of 99.9 percent. The new ruling is aimed at curbing the rampant illegal tin mining in the country.

Hidayat, however, said that many local smelters in Bangka Belitung, the country?s main tin producing region, had been securing tin ore raw material from the illegal miners. The new regulation has thus hampered them in obtaining sufficient raw material amid tight competition for it, he said, resulting in increasing number of smelters to stop operation.

Indonesia is the world?s second largest tin producing country, but the largest exporter. Nearly 70 percent of the tin export went to Singapore last year. (*)