Falling Shipments Buoy Tin Prices; Filipino Lawmaker Revives Ore Ban

by Jeff Yoders on AUGUST 24, 2016

Tin prices are up as shipments have fallen off and the Philippines is, once again, considering a raw ore export ban in a bid to bolster local processing.

Tin Shipments Fall, Prices Rise

Falling shipments from top tin exporter Indonesia and predictions that a surge in mining in Myanmar is tapering off has led to a scramble for the metal, sending inventories to the lowest level in over seven-and-a-half years.

This provides a potential for further price gains for the metal mainly used to make solder for the electronics industry, already the second-best performer among industrial metals this year.

Filipino Lawmaker Revives Ore Ban

A Filipino lawmaker has revived a proposal to ban exports of unprocessed minerals to spur domestic processing, in a move that may tighten global nickel supply and make it an even tougher business environment for miners in the world’s top producer.

The Philippines has vast but largely untapped mineral resources, limiting the contribution of mining to its economy to less than 1%. The sector is now facing a tough regime under the government of firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte who has suspended some miners causing environmental destruction.