Tin Prices may Gain Support from Supply Shortage

SHANGHAI, Apr 24 (SMM) - Last Friday night, the SHFE 2305 tin contract rebounded slightly after reaching the lowest point at 212,620 yuan/mt, and closed at 214,070 yuan/mt, down 1.04%.

In the spot market, although the SHFE tin prices fell, the transaction sentiment in the spot market was still weak. In March, the domestic tin ore imports stood at 21,929 mt, up 27.68% month-on-month but down 24.35% year-on-year. The cumulative import volume from January to March was 55,500 mt, down 37.45% year-on-year. Entering April, the import profits of tin ore and tin ingot dropped sharply, and thus the tin ingot imports may decrease.

Overall, the supply of domestic tin ore was still tight, and is unlikely to see a substantial improvement in the future. Affected by weak consumption, the short-term tin prices may not have an obvious improvement. But the year-on-year decrease in the imports of tin ore and the shortage of ore supply may lead to an increase in the tin prices.