New measures on tin export
Saturday, December 15 2001 - 03:42 AM WIB
The government is considering issuing a new regulation on the export of tin to help curb illegal mining activities and save the state-owned tin mining firm PT Timah.
The Kompas daily quoted Timah president Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas as saying on Friday that among of the planned measures to be taken included limiting the number of exporters, and the type of product to be exported.
He said that the exporters would only included Timah PT Koba Tin, and a tin mining firm owned by the Bangka Belitung provincial administration.
He said that the three companies would purchase the tin produced by traditional miners.
Timah has been troubled by the rampant illegal tin mining activities which produced nearly half of Timah?s production. The illegal products flooded the export and causes tin prices to tumble, which would send Timah into bankruptcy if it continues for a longer time.
Reports earlier said that the government via the office of the minister of trade and industry would soon issue a decree regulating tin exports.
Under the new decree, tin will be categorized as a strategic commodity. As such, the central government will take over the regulation of the industry from the regions. The decree might ban the exportation of tin sands, which analysts blame as the main culprit behind the rampant tin illegal mining in Bangka and Belitung islands in South Sumatra.
The illegal mining has paralyzed production at publicly listed state-owned company PT Timah and Indonesian-Australian joint venture PT Kobatin operating on both islands.
The illegal mining has also caused an oversupply of tin products on the world market, which then put pressure on the commodity?s price. (*)