Author: Paul Ploumis
25 Mar 2015 Last updated at 06:56:06 GMT
JAKARTA (Scrap Monster): The Indonesian Tin producers have finally arrived at a consensus decision to limit exports in order to lend support to falling commodity prices. The producing firms reached an agreement on Monday to limit monthly tin sales to 4,500 tonnes beginning April this year. The country had witnessed long running discussions on restricting tin exports.

According to the agreement reached between smelters and Bangka-Belitung administration, PT Timah will limit monthly exports to 2,500 tonnes per month. Also, the 19 private tin smelters belonging to the Association of Indonesian Tin Exporters (AETI) has agreed to restrict the monthly exports to 2,000 tonnes. The recently released preliminary government figures indicate that Indonesian Tin exports in January and February this year totaled 6,770 tonnes and 5,986 tonnes respectively. The exports are likely to be around 6,000 tonnes in March also.

Earlier, 25 companies including the state-owned PT Timah had formed a working group to formulate strategies to boost tin prices. After four days of meeting, the companies had failed to arrive at a plan. Reportedly, there had been differences among companies with regards to halting and banning tin shipments from the country.

The proposal to enact moratorium on tin shipments from the country was initially raised during the month of November last year by Bangka-Belitung Governor Rustam Effendi.

Meantime, ITRI welcomed the agreement, calling it as a culmination of separate steps taken by various smelters to limit exports out of the country. However, it is still unclear as to how private smelters outside AETI will react to the agreement. If the agreement stays in effect for at least some months, tin may face a tighter supply situation, which eventually may lend support to prices.