SHANGHAI, Nov 9 (SMM) – Yunnan Tin Group said on Friday November 9 that it would put its smelting mill under annual maintenance from November 11.

The largest tin producer and exporter in China said that it would take no more than 50 days for overhauls and that the suspension would have minimal impact on its annual production and operation plans.

Both LME and SHFE tin saw sharp gains overnight in the wake of this news.

Tin prices are expected to continue their strong performance in anticipation of supply constraints. Indonesia's refined tin exports in October fell 42% from a month earlier to 5,109 mt, showed trade ministry data on Thursday, following the introduction of restrictions on some sales last month by the country's only tin-trading bourse.

The Indonesia Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (ICDX) suspended the trading in mid-October of tin ingots and tin ore whose origin was verified by state-owned metals assessor PT Surveyor Indonesia following a police report relating to the sale of minerals from sources without permits.

Customs data showed that China imported 172,085 mt of tin ore in January-September, down 34,362 or 16.6% from the same period last year.

For the same period, 170,253 mt of tin ore from Myanmar entered China, equating to 42,600 mt in metal content, down 7.8% compared to a year earlier.

The decline in tin ore imports could be attributed to the drops in output and inventories across miners at Wa State, where tin ore supplies fell to the current monthly output of 3,500-4,000 mt from the peak of 5,000-6,000 mt.