China's imports of tin ore and concentrate in October rose significantly by 112.26% month on month and 85.59% year on year to 25,299 tonnes (equivalent to 5,048 metal tonnes), according to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC) statistics.
The imports from Myanmar, Malaysia, Bolivia, Australia, and Vietnam increased, among them, Myanmar grew significantly by 626.02% month on month and 7.53% year on year to 10,317 tonnes (equivalent to 2,063 metal tonnes). Although, the expansion profit led to the amount of tin ore imported from Malaysia and Bolivia surging to 6,162.51 tonnes and 3,582.43 tonnes in October, most of the ore was low-grade. The tin content of Malaysia's imported tin ore was only 0.51%, and the tin content of Bolivia's imported tin ore was around 6.33%, according to Mysteel's calculation. Therefore, they contributed limitedly to tin ore supply for China in October.
By contrast, the imports from Russia, Nigeria, and Venezuela decreased, especially from Russia by 43.29% or 184.15 tonnes month on month.
China imported a total of 204,700 tonnes (equivalent to 54,190 metal tonnes) of tin ore and concentrate from January to October, with imports from Myanmar accounting for 71.76%.
Data Source: GACC
China's refined tin imports in October were up by 13.6% month on month but dropped by 5.41% year on year to 3,322 tonnes. Indonesia, the top source of China's refined tin imports, accounted for 75.86% of October's total, increasing by 8.3% month on month to 2,520 tonnes. Meanwhile, imports from Thailand and Peru sharply increased. Wherein, the imports from Peru rose the most by 150.286 tonnes month on month. However, the imports from Malaysia decreased the most by 75 tonnes month on month.
China's refined tin exports in October rose by 45.22% month on month and 38.2% year on year to 1054 tonnes. China imported 23,171 tonnes of refined tin from January to October and exported 10,229 tonnes. The accumulative net imports were 12,942 tonnes.
Data Source: GACC
China's tin ore imports rose significantly in October, mainly because the Wa State concentrator in Myanmar resumed production and the imports from the region were gradually recovering. However, the time of the mining ban scrapped for December and November is uncertain. Meanwhile, the inventories of concentrators in Wa State continue to reduce, thus, in the long term, the expected imports of tin ore from Myanmar are unlikely to increase sharply again. Moreover, tin ore imports from Wa State are expected to be around 3,000 metal tonnes in November, according to Mysteel research.
The imports of refined tin in October conformed to Mysteel's expectation. Due to the import window opening, and in October the export from Indonesia had no significant decrease month on month (over 2,362 tonnes of refined tin delivered to China in October), China's refined tin imports in November are expected to rise to around 3,000-3,500 tonnes.
Written by Zhaorui Cui, cuizhaorui@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com