ITRI International Tin Conference Round-Up

Thirty speakers presented papers on production, consumption, investment, trade and regulations and there was a general up-beat sentiment about the current state of market fundamentals – although this was tempered by concerns about the possible negative impact of the Euro zone financial crisis.

Some key points and themes which came out were:

China continues to provide massive support to tin and other metals markets. The wider impact of the growth in Chinese consumption on metals was a key feature of the overview of metals provided by CRU's Phil Macoun. In tin China has rapidly transformed from large next exporter to a net importer, with supply increasingly constrained by raw materials availability, despite YTC's new mine project and increased recycling. There are also other big emerging economies, including India, with great potential to lift their per capita usage.

Tin consumption has bounced back in 2010. The key preliminary statistic emerging from the presentation by IPC's Tony Hilvers is that global solder shipments in the first quarter of 2010 were over 50% higher than the very depressed first quarter of 2009. However there are some concerns about tin use: there is a strong risk of substitution in PVC stabilisers and rapidly growing regulatory pressures on many applications.

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