Chinese refined tin production fell by 6% in May compared with April, but the total production in January-May has reached 63,416 tonnes, up by 8.6% y-o-y according to the data from CNIA (China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association). It should be noted that the majority of secondary refined tin production is not included in the official statistics. Generally, the high tin price has stimulated production, but the increase is limited by tight raw material supplies. In particular the volume of imported crude tin for refining has decreased considerably because the China domestic market price lagged the LME in the first four months of the year.
Tin-in-concentrate production in May was down by 8% m-o-m to 7,225 tonnes according to CNIA. However, cumulative production in January-May rose to 37,717 tonnes, up by 12% y-o-y. ITRI believes that the increase of mine production in official data is partly due to improving coverage of the activity of smaller mines in recent years.
