Indonesia trade ministry looks at closing tin export loophole

Indonesian trade ministry officials are in talks with the country's tin industry on making tin solder exports subject to a six month old domestic trading rule closing a loophole that has boosted solder shipments.

Shipments of tin from the world's top exporter have been hampered by a regulation introduced in August that forces all tin ingot shipments to trade via a local platform before being exported. Any change could cause further disruption to the flow of the base metal.

Tin exports plunged after the rule came into effect in a bid to halt illegal mining and give Indonesia greater control over prices. Exports have partly recovered but remain erratic, falling 50% in January on a year earlier to 4,613 tonnes, including both ingots and solder.

Unlike tin ingots, solder is not subject to the domestic trading rule until January 2015, which has caused a sharp spike in monthly tin solder shipments from 756 tonnes last October to 1,460 tonnes in January.

Indonesia's sole tin trading platform is run by the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange which wants the government to close the loophole on solder. There is no exact plan to revise tin export regulation so far adding that no draft regulation or time frame had yet been agreed. So far it is just an idea to bring tin solder into the exchange.