Tin smelting companies plan massive layoff

Smelting companies in Bangka and Belitung (Babel) province, Indonesia?s main tin producer, plans a massive layoff as the global economic crisis began to take toll on the country?s industrial activities, Kompas reported Wednesday.

The chairman of the association of the tin processing companies (AITI) Apik Rasyidi said in the province?s capital of Pangkal Pinang on Tuesday that the layoff plan would affect at least 800 people or about 20 percent of the total workers at local tin processing companies.

He said that the layoff could not be avoided because tin processing activities continued to decline due to the lack of orders from tin miners in the province, which had since last year cut their production following the sharp drop in tin prices in the world market.

Meanwhile, Ernawan, a senior executive of tin processing firm CV Dona Kembara Jaya, said that his company had laid off at least 60 workers since September last year due to business slump.

According to him, his company?s production of tin bars which previously reached between 300 tons and 500 tons a month had fallen by more than 40 percent. (*)