Timah reports sharp decline in net profit for H1 2001 on low tin price

State tin miner PT Timah Tbk announced Tuesday that the Company posted Rp126.2 billion (US$ = 8,450) net profit after tax for the first half of 2001, 50 percent lower than last year?s corresponding period of Rp250.1 billion, while operating margin for the first half of 2001 was Rp248.5 billion, 19.6 percent higher than last year?s same period of Rp207.7 billion.

Timah said lower net profit in the first semester of 2001 was due to net other expenses of Rp11.7 billion compared to net other income of Rp165.6 billion, that was posted in the same period last year. This was caused by lower net foreign exchange gain, higher provisions, and no gain from disposals of fixed assets and sale of short-term investments as posted in the same period last year.

Slower economic growth in most of industrial countries since the beginning of 2001 has weakened the demand for tin-consuming goods, while the supply of refined tin remained stable. These have caused heavy downward pressure on

World tin prices, and is reflected in continued decline of tin prices during the first half of 2001 to US$4,690 per ton at end of June 2001, and even goes down further to US$3,630 per ton on August 7, 2001 - the lowest level since September 1993.

The average of tin price received by the Company during the first half of 2001 was US$5,078 per ton, 10 percent lower than that of the same period last year of US$5,629 per ton.(alex)