Timah?s profit rises 7.5 times in 2007

State owned tin miner PT Timah booked an annual profit of Rp 1.78 trillion (US$= Rp 9,205) in 2007, a 757 percent increase from the previous year?s profit of Rp 208.15 billion thanks to the increase in output and the price of the metal..

In a statement to the Indonesian Stock Exchange on Monday, the world?s second largest tin producer said its sales reached Rp 8.54 trillion last year, up from Rp 4.07 trillion in the previous year.

The firm paid off all its short-term debts, amounting to Rp 692.4 billion last year.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the firm booked a profit of Rp 520.1 trillion, up from Rp 146.5 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.

Tin price has been rising since the Indonesian government launched a crackdown on illegal tin mining activities on Bangka and Belitung islands, the main producers of the metal in the country.

The metal?s price averaged $14,529 per ton last year, compared to $8,763 per ton in the previous year. The price has been hovering above $20,000 per ton since several weeks ago.

Timah?s sales volume increased 38 percent to 58,927 tons last year (accounting for less than 18 percent of the world?s total output), from 42,613 tons in the previous year. Its output rose 58,325 tons in 2007 from 44,689 tons in the previous year. Output from the onshore mining operation rose 18 percent, while output from offshore operation declined by 5 percent.

The firm also operates a coal mine in East Kalimantan but it contributed only 8.6 percent of the company?s revenue last year.

PT Tanjung Alam Jaya, the coal subsidiary, produced 2.16 million tons last year, up by 0.9 percent from 2.14 million tons in the previous year. Its sales increased to 2.43 million tons from 1.78 million tons.

Citing a research by London-based Commodity Research Unit (CRU), the company said the world?s consumption of the commodity would reach 375,300 tons this year, up 2.9 percent from 364,000 tons in 2007. Meanwhile, the world?s output will increase to 361,000 tons from 347,000 tons last year.

?Thus, there will be a deficit of 14,300 tons this year,? the firm said.

The metal has thus a bright outlook, he said, while applauding the government?s continued efforts to crack down on illegal tin mining activities. (Bodega)