Indonesia’s PT Timah is to temporarily halt new spot sales of tin as a result of the recent fall in prices.
"We are putting a brake on the sales of tin for new contracts and spot sales," a spokesman told Reuters on Friday. The company will halt new sales until LME prices recover to over $15,000/tonne, according to the spokesman, although existing contracts will not be affected.
Further clarification of Timah’s position was provided by President Director Wahid Usman and Corporate Secretary Prasetyo Saksono on Monday. Usman told Reuters that only spot sales would be halted and that the company would continue to meet all commitments to contract customers, mainly end-users. He said that the company had already contracted to sell 45,000 tonnes of tin in 2007, of which some 30,000 tonnes had been delivered to customers by the end of June.
Meanwhile Saksono told Bloomberg that Timah would remain flexible about making spot sales. “There is no fixed schedule of selling to the spot market. It is at our discretion to hold or release a sale to the spot market.” He also pointed out that 70 – 80% of planned sales were on a contract basis.
ITRI expects that PT Timah will produce over 50,000 tonnes of refined tin this year, up from 44,689 tonnes in 2006. This is despite delays in the commissioning of two new furnaces at its Mentok smelter.
