Tariff Suspension Mitigates Impact of Bisie Tin Mine Resumption, SHFE Tin Decline Narrows [Intraday Update]

Overnight, both SHFE tin and LME tin experienced significant declines. The most-traded SHFE tin contract fell by more than 9% during the night session, before narrowing its loss to 5.72%, hitting a low of over four months. LME three-month tin closed down by $2,779, or 8.52%, after a drop of up to 11% during the session. The decline was dragged by expectations of increased supply. Today, during the day session, SHFE tin quickly moved upward, with the loss of the most-traded contract narrowing further to less than 2%, as the US government announced a 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, maintaining a minimum tariff rate of 10%, leading to a rebound in commodities.

Alphamin Resources announced that its Bisie tin mine in eastern DRC will resume operations. Previously, due to the approach of non-state armed groups to the mining area, Alphamin suspended operations at the Bisie mine on March 13, 2025. The company has now initiated a "phased resumption" plan, gradually recalling employees and restarting production in stages while closely monitoring the security situation. As the Bisie mine is the world's third-largest tin mine (with an annual capacity of 20,000 mt), its tin concentrate production in 2024 reached 17,300 mt of metal content, accounting for about 6% of global tin mine supply. With the resumption of operations at the Bisie mine, the tight situation in the tin market has eased somewhat.