Tin exports fall in November, smelters to reopen

Tin exports from Bangka-Belitung province are estimated to have fallen 47 percent in November from a year ago as small smelters shut due to sliding prices, the trade ministry said on Friday.

Refined tin exports were estimated to have dropped to 4,381.36 tons in November, down 47 percent from 8,294.72 tons in the same month a year ago and at the lowest level since December 2007, trade ministry data showed.

Tin exports in January to November were 84,356.22 tons, the data showed. Indonesia exported 78,744 tons of refined tin in 2007, down 35 percent from 121,172 tons.

Earlier on Friday, Bangka-Belitung Governor Eko Maulana Ali said small tin smelters would be allowed to resume operations to protect the livelihood of local miners. The move comes after he had urged tin smelters to shut operations in October as a halving in tin prices from their record high $25,500 a ton in May cut margins for smelters. (*)