Physical trading of pure tin ingots through futures exchanges [Indonesia Tin Industry Conference]

At the 2025 Indonesia Mining Conference & Critical Metals Conference - 2025 Southeast Asia Tin Industry Conference, hosted by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. (SMM), supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a government supporter, and co-organized by the Association of Indonesia Nickel Miners (APNI), the Jakarta Futures Exchange, and China Coal Resource, Tirta Karma Senjaya, the Minister of Trade of Indonesia from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (CoFTRA), discussed the topic of "Physical Trading of Pure Tin Ingots through Futures Exchanges."

What is COFTRA?

COFTRA is a unit under the Indonesian Ministry of Trade responsible for regulating, developing, overseeing, and monitoring commodity futures trading, warrant systems, and commodity auction markets.

Legal Basis for Pure Tin Ingot Trading

Constitution: Law No. 32 of 1997 on Commodity Futures Trading (as amended by Law No. 10 of 2011).

MOT Regulation: Regulation of the Minister of Trade No. 23 of 2023 on Export Policy and Regulation.

COFTRA Regulation: COFTRA (Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency) Regulation No. 11 of 2019 on Technical Guidelines for Pure Tin Ingot Trading through Tin Exchanges, as amended by COFTRA Regulation No. 6 of 2024.

Objectives of Regulating Pure Tin Ingot Trade and Exports

As the world's largest tin exporter, Indonesia recognizes the significance of establishing a national tin exchange based on the following considerations:

Sovereignty and Pricing Independence : The sovereignty and independence to autonomously determine domestic tin prices.

Resource Conservation and Utilization : Ensuring and utilizing limited mineral resources to protect natural resource development, environmental sustainability, and sustainable economic growth.

Benefits of Tin Trading on Futures Exchanges

Principles of Tin Trading on Tin Exchanges

Trading on exchanges adheres to the principles of "free and fair trade," specifically including:

Clarity and Transparency: Trading Integrity: Ensuring honest and fraud-free tin trading processes, eliminating improper practices such as fraud and market manipulation, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of all trading parties.

Openness: Information Transparency: Disclosing information related to export taxes, royalties, and foreign exchange, ensuring traceability and supervision of trading data, and enhancing market trust.

Price Discovery: Transparent and Traceable Pricing Mechanism: Forming tin prices through open bidding to ensure a transparent price formation process with traceable responsibilities, providing the market with price signals that truly reflect the supply-demand relationship.

Bargaining Power:Enhancing Seller Market Influence: By bringing together numerous buyers, a seller-led market structure is formed, enhancing the bargaining power of tin suppliers in transactions and avoiding low-price competition.

Price Reference:International Price Benchmark: Prices formed on the tin exchange can serve as an important reference for international tin prices, strengthening Indonesia's pricing influence in the global tin market.

Good Corporate Governance:Healthy and Sustainable Business Practices: Require participants in transactions to adhere to high standards of governance norms, promoting sustainable development of the tin industry in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects, and preventing systemic risks.

Pure Tin Ingot Contracts

Pure tin ingots are classified under the commodity tariff code/HS code 8001.10.00.

Contracts traded on the tin exchange for export and domestic sales include:

99.9% pure tin ingot contract: iron (Fe) content ≤0.005%, lead (Pb) content ≤0.030%;

99.9% pure tin ingot contract: iron (Fe) content ≤0.005%, lead (Pb) content ≤0.020%;

99.9% pure tin ingot contract: iron (Fe) content ≤0.005%, lead (Pb) content ≤0.010%;

99.9% pure tin ingot contract: iron (Fe) content ≤0.005%, lead (Pb) content ≤0.005%;

99.9% pure tin ingot contract: only specifies tin (Sn) content ≥99.9% (no explicit restrictions on other impurities).

Indonesian Tin Exports (HS Code 80011000)

(Source: SISTER Ministry of Trade Processed by COFTRA)

In 2023, China was the main export destination for Indonesian tin, with an export value of $641.81 million, accounting for a significant portion of Indonesia's total tin exports in 2023.

In 2024, China remained the main export destination for Indonesian tin, with an export value of $416.99 million, playing an important role in Indonesia's total tin exports in 2024.

It also elaborated on Indonesia's pure tin ingot export volume and transaction value, as well as domestic transaction volume and transaction value in recent years.

Comparison of Indonesian Pure Tin Ingot Export Prices and London Metal Exchange (LME) Tin Prices (in US dollars)

Since (Indonesian tin) has been traded on the futures exchange, it has been proven that Indonesian tin prices have risen (in line with LME price trends).

The prices formed through the Indonesian tin exchange are suitable as a basis for setting reference prices for tin exports.

It also introduced the trading mechanism for pure tin ingots on the tin exchange, export requirements for pure tin ingots, export ports for pure tin ingots (ports in Indonesia and ports at export destinations), and initiatives to establish a tin price reference through the tin exchange.

COFTRA's Supervision of Physical Tin Trading

COFTRA (the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency) oversees physical tin trading on futures exchanges (such as the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, BBJ, and ICDX) in the following areas: 1. Trading mechanisms, 2. Transaction records and reporting, 3. Transaction settlement.

The supervision covers membership qualifications, trading mechanisms, physical delivery, facilities and infrastructure, as well as price formation.

In accordance with COFTRA Regulation No. 5 (2022), COFTRA conducts off-site supervision of the annual activity reports submitted by futures exchanges each year after the reporting year ends. Currently, no complaints have been lodged by physical tin traders with COFTRA.

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