Tin shipments from Myanmar declined in July

By  Paul Ploumis 26 Aug 2015  Last updated at 02:51:02 GMT

The shipments of tin ore and concentrate from Myanmar to China declined slightly during the month of July this year. The customs data indicates that Chinese imports from Myanmar during the month totaled 20,095 tonnes in gross weight.

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The Chinese imports of tin ore and concentrate from Myanmar witnessed marginal decline during the month of July this year.

According to data released by Chinese customs authorities, the Chinese imports from Myanmar during the month totaled 20,095 tonnes in gross weight. The imports have surged higher by 29% when compared with those during same month a year before. However, when matched with June ’15 imports of 24,632 tonnes, the imports during July ’15 were down sharply by 19%.

The cumulative imports during the first seven months of the current year totaled 155,275 tonnes, up significantly when matched with the previous year.

According to ITRI estimates, the total tin content in exports during the seven month period from January to July this year amounted to nearly 25,000 tons. The excessively high content is on account of the local government stock sales during the months of April and May. The late monsoon season that arrived in early-July in Myanmar also pushed export volumes from that country higher during the month of May and June this year.

Industry sources indicate that mined ore production by Wa County has declined during 2015. However, volume of concentrate output continues to remain high, on account of widespread expansion of processing capacities in the region. The concentrate stocks in Pangsang continue to remain at higher levels, they noted.

ITRI has revised the yearly production target for the country. According to ITRI, the total Myanmar output is expected to touch 38,000 tons during the entire year 2015. ITRI had earlier estimated the yearly output to total 35,000 tons. The situation will be closely monitored and revision to the targets will be announced, if necessary, ITRI added. The Association also predicts marginal rise in production during 2016.