China imported 309 tonnes refined tin in February, down by 84% y-o-y, according to China Customs. The total import in Jan-Feb is 1,024 tonnes, down by 65% y-o-y. The low imports are due to a combination of the unfavourable China-LME price differential and the Spring Festival holiday last month. Since last September, the LME price was always higher than Chinese price, cutting both spot purchases and long term orders. There were also very strong sales ( including de-stocking) by Chinese producers in Jan-Feb, thereby reducing the need for imports. Another factor is that a high proportion of the tin imports are from Indonesia for re-refining and Indonesian supply was low in that period.
China didn’t export any tin in in the two months, according to the official China Customs data. But China exported more than 1,000 tonnes of other tin products (which do not attract export duty) in Jan–Feb. We also heard the export business was still active at that time.
