A plan to establish a tin market based in Indonesia has been supported by the main independent tin smelters there. According to the official Antara news agency yesterday, companies grouped in the Bangka Belitung Timah Sejahtera (BBTS) consortium urged the government to immediately form a Jakarta Tin Market (JTM) to improve their price bargaining power. A spokesman said the government needs to prepare regulations quickly to speed up the operation of the JTM. He said BBTS members were ready to provide input and discuss the implementation of the idea.
The concept, supported by key government ministries and state tin company PT Timah, was first raised publicly by a senior Trade Ministry official last July. “We expect within five years to have a Jakarta Tin Market,” Diah Maulida, the ministry’s director general of foreign trade, said at the time. “The plan is related to our regulation of refined tin exports.”
The London Metal Exchange is currently the world’s only significant futures market for tin, while the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market in Malaysia provides a spot market and reference price for parts of Asia.
