China's imports of tin ore and concentrate in December decreased by 119.56% month on month but increased by 60.3% year on year to 21,359 tonnes (equivalent to 6,762 metal tonnes), according to General Administration of China's Customs (GACC) statistics.
The imports from Myanmar were down by 28.76% month on month but up by 65.63% year on year to 15,671 tonnes (equivalent to 3,917.5 metal tonnes), and 5,688 tonnes (equivalent to 2,844.5 metal tonnes) from other countries except for Myanmar. Wherein, imports from Laos and Vietnam increased significantly by 453% and 497% respectively month on month. While imports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Australia remained stable. China's total imports of tin ore and concentrate in 2022 by the end of December increased by 32.26% year on year to 243,757 tonnes.
Data Source: GACC
China's refined tin imports were down by 35.27% month on month but up by more than 10 times year on year in December to 3,349 tonnes, mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Peru, down by 40.3%, 66.69% but up by 37.93% to 1,980 tonnes, 350 tonnes and 966 tonnes respectively. China exported 1,115 tonnes of refined tin in December, up by 10.92% month on month and 154.49% year on year.
China's accumulative imports of refined tin in 2022 bulged by 535.98% year on year to 31,115 tonne, while the exports decreased by 25.06% year on year to 10,732 tonnes. So, China's accumulative net import of refined tin was 20,383 tonnes in 2022.
Data Source: GACC
As the rising tin price in December led to high profits for mining companies, the imports remained stable as expected. Tin ore and concentrate imports are also expected to remain stable in January 2023 as the same in December 2022 since enterprises had long Spring Festival holidays in January. As for the imports of tin ingots in January are expected to decline due to the Spring Festival holiday.
Written by Durand Du, duxiaoyu@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com