Timah sticks to 2002 tin output target: Report

Ailing state tin miner PT Timah Tbk, the world's biggest integrated tin firm, said on Tuesday it was sticking to its earlier target of producing less tin in 2002 even though global prices staged a recent recovery, Reuters reported Tuesday.

"If we get concentrates from small-scale mines then we can increase our production, but in my plan it (output) is around 34,000 tonnes, the same as before," Thobrani Alwi, Timah's President Director, told Reuters in an interview.

Timah produced 38,081 tonnes of tin last year.

Alwi said he expected Indonesia's tin output to hit about 50,000 tonnes this year, with the bulk of production coming from Timah and PT Koba, another major Indonesian tin producer.

Alwi shrugged off the market's concerns that Indonesia's proposed tin ore export ban could spark smuggling in the region.

Indonesia has said it would bring forward a ban on tin ore exports to June 1 from June 15, as it strives to halt rampant illegal mining that has ravaged the environment across the archipelago and pressured prices through increased supply.

"I am not worried about it. Every institution like police and the navy will have to obey the decree of the government," he said on the sidelines of a tin conference in China's southwestern province of Yunnan.

Global tin prices have wallowed at historic lows over the past year but bounced back to five-month highs in early May. London Metal Exchange three-month tin closed Monday's kerb session down US$30 at US$4,120 and was range-bound at about US$4,130 in later inter-office trade.

"For the year 2002 to 2003 we hope tin prices will be at around US$4,500 to US$5,000," Alwi said. "For this year, if the price can increase to US$4,400 to US$4,500, it will be okay for us." (*)