SMM Morning Comment For Tin Market On January 15

SHANGHAI, January 15 (SMM) –
SHFE 2402 tin contract closed at 210690 yuan/mt at last Friday’s night session, up 2.03%. Last Friday, spot premiums and discounts in domestic spot market for various tin ingot brands were as below. Small brand tin ingots were offered at discounts of 0-500 yuan/mt and premiums of 0-300 yuan/mt over SHFE 2402 tin contract, versus premiums of 0-800 yuan/mt for delivery brands, premiums of 1000 yuan/mt for Yunxi brand, and discounts of 1000-1100 yuan/mt for imported brand tin ingots. The overall tin price maintained an upward trend in early trading last Friday. Trading companies reported that most downstream companies had a wait-and-see attitude, with fewer inquiries. According to SMM research, downstream solder companies reported that order volume in January 2024 did not usher in the expected growth. In previous years, terminal companies would choose to carry out pre-stocking in January, which would bring a certain increase in orders to downstream solder companies. However, this year's end-user companies have adopted a more conservative strategy, with most choosing to only maintain inventory for a few days during the Spring Festival holiday. As a result, the increase in orders at downstream solder companies is less than expected, and the downstream solder companies themselves are also affected by large fluctuations in tin prices and weak recent demand. However, considering that global semiconductor sales in November 2023 achieved year-on-year growth for the first time since August 2022, demand in 2024 may be relatively positive. In addition, according to SMM research, social inventories have been significantly reduced by 1,308 mt last week. The supply of goods flowing into the market is not as sufficient as before. Coupled with the weak domestic supply side, the downward space of tin prices will be limited.