Indonesia Tin Refineries Resume Ingot Export

International tin ingot buyers could shift to Indonesian products from China when Indonesian export recovers. Indonesian government approved the conditional export resume after 6-month check for domestic private refineries. The export shipment to Japan increases in the month. The high priced Chinese ingot is likely to loose the position as last year with surging premium when the buyers prefer to use low lead products. Indonesian government announced additional export permission for 4 tin refineries last week. Total 12 refineries now can export the products and around half of the banned refineries resume the export after stop order in October 2006. The government approves the export only for ingot with more than 99.85% of purity. The export is expected to recover though the volume is likely to less than when they exported crude tin due to their investment burden for expansion for refineries. Indonesian largest private refinery of PT Koba Tin resumed the tin ingot export through the parent company of Malaysia Smelting Corporation for the first time in 4 months. Japanese trader said PT Timah, PT Koba and other Indonesian refineries resumed the export offer to Japan. Chinese tin suppliers increased the export premium in 2006 when the buyers try to buy low lead ingot. With the higher price, some buyers shifted to Indonesian materials but they were forced to keep buying Chinese ingot due to limited availability of Indonesian materials.