Latest provisional figures from Indonesia’s Trade Ministry show a continuing fall in tin shipments in the final months of 2007. December “shipments” were 3,330 tonnes, Hartojo Agus Tjahjono, export director for mining products, told Bloomberg in an interview in Jakarta. The figure comes from surveys of tin prior to export which have been carried out under the new export licencing system that came into force last February.
The total volume surveyed from 23 February 2007 to the end of the year was 86,305 tonnes. The comparable monthly figures for October and November were 13,509 tonnes and 8,295 tonnes. We would guess that actual shipments in December were higher than the volume checked by the surveyors, as there was a backlog of tin ready for export at the end of November.
