Trade ministry data released today indicates that tin exports out of Indonesia remained quite high in August, before the latest police clampdown took full effect. The volume of tin checked for export by surveyors amounted to 8,444 tonnes last month, 2.6% higher than in August 2008. Year-to-date tonnage is 67,798 tonnes, up 5.1% on the corresponding period of last year.
However sources interviewed by Metal Bulletin yesterday predicted a large drop in September exports as police action against companies involved in illegal mining entered its fourth week. Nine tin collectors were arrested at the weekend. A group of policemen from Jakarta are still stationed in Bangka, indicating that the crackdown may continue, said PT Koba Tin spokesman Dharmansyah Nawawi.
“As long as there are still thieves, police will continue working,” said police spokesman I Ketut Untung Yoga. The whole production chain has been disrupted MB reports, with tin collectors – middlemen who buy the ore form miners and offer to smelters – also stopping work. There are up to 300 of them in Bangka alone, sources said.
