Tin Recyclers in China’s South Cut Output on Environmental Curbs
Tin recyclers in southern areas of China, the largest consumer, have cut production as the government toughened environmental checks and imposed power restrictions.
“Most producers in Guangdong have suspended more than half of their capacity, as was ordered by the local government, and also partly due to power restrictions,” Zhao Maohe, general manager of Shenzhen Yuta Tin Co., said by phone from Shenzhen. “It’s hard to say when production will return to normal.”
Guangdong is the largest recycler accounting for more than 10 percent of the nation’s total tin output, according to researcher Beijing Antaike Information Development Co. China has tightened environmental checks on metal producers following reports that residents living near lead plants were found with excessive levels of the metal in their blood.
“Local tin prices are being boosted by the production losses,” said Wu Xiaofeng, an analyst at data provider SMM Information & Technology. “But as the output in Guangdong isn’t big, and only supplies the local market, there is no impact so far on markets elsewhere.”
Three-month tin traded on the London Metal Exchange has fallen 22 percent from a record in April to $26,350 a ton. The metal used in soldering may rally 15 percent to $30,000 a ton by Dec. 31, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Soldering plants in Guangdong and Zhejiang are also affected due to power restrictions and the environmental clampdown, said SMM’s Wu.
Lead-acid battery plants and recyclers in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Sichuan and Henan provinces suspended production from mid-May after hundreds were poisoned. Power supply remains tight in southern China because of high temperatures and insufficient coal supply, the National Development and Reform Commission said June 28.
China produced 164,399 tons of tin last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Helen Sun in Shanghai at hsun30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
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