China’s commerce ministry announced reduced 2010 quotas for exports of tin, tungsten, antimony and magnesium over the weekend. Quotas for molybdenum, indium and silver were unchanged. Nest year’s quota for tin and tin products is 21,000 tonnes, down from 23,300 tonnes in 2009. However these are unlikely to constrain trade, as China has become a net importer of tin since the end of 2007. Refined tin exports are also limited by the 10% export duty introduced at the start of 2008.
Refined tin imports in January-September 2009 amounted to only 607 tonnes, with most of the total accounted for by a 400 tonne shipment to Singapore in September. We guess that this may reflect a delivery into an LME warehouse as a result of the large backwardation. Exports of tin semis and other tin products in January-September totalled 3,610 tonnes. Meanwhile imports of refined tin rose by 150% to 17,643 tonnes in the same period.
