Tin · Origin deep dive

Thin warranted stocks sit mostly in Singapore, Port Klang and Rotterdam sheds behind the world's smallest base-metal contract.

Refined tin, 99.85% minimum Grade A ingot, under registered brands led by Asian and Latin American smelters.

Warrant trading on chronically low inventory; small stock moves produce outsized spread and premium reactions.

Solder makers, tinplate producers and traders; electronics demand makes cancelled warrants flow disproportionately to Asia.

Stocks drain into the second-half electronics build season ahead of holiday device production peaks.

Tiny deliverable stocks make tin squeeze-prone; single-supplier outages in Indonesia or Myanmar transmit straight into spreads.

Delivered US basis through Gulf and East Coast ports; no domestic smelter means every refined tonne is imported.

Grade A 99.85% ingot from Indonesian, Bolivian, Peruvian and Malaysian brands preferred for solder and tinplate specs.

Containerised import parcels distributed by truck to solder alloyers and tinplate lines; premium embeds ocean freight and duty risk.

Electronics solder producers, tinplate steel lines and chemical makers, with defense-stockpile interest resurfacing in tight years.

Follows electronics production cycles into second-half builds; annual supply contracts negotiated in the fourth quarter.

Tariff policy on import origins, total import dependence and thin spot liquidity make the US premium jumpy.

Ex-works Gejiu, Yunnan, home of Yunnan Tin, the world's largest refiner, with Shanghai bonded stock as the trade gateway.

SHFE-deliverable 99.9% refined tin, smelted heavily from Myanmar concentrate feed alongside domestic mine supply.

Domestic truck and rail to solder plants; imports and exports toggle with the SHFE-LME arb and VAT economics.

Chinese solder and tinplate producers serving the electronics assembly complex in Guangdong and the Yangtze delta.

Smelter maintenance rounds and the second-half electronics season set the rhythm; Lunar New Year idles downstream demand.

Myanmar concentrate availability, Yunnan smelter feed margins and arb direction decide whether China imports or exports units.

FOB Bangka-Belitung through Pangkal Pinang and Muntok, with all exports first crossing the ICDX exchange in Jakarta.

Refined 99.9% tin led by PT Timah and private Bangka smelter brands, most LME-registered.

Every export cargo must trade on ICDX before shipment; containerised parcels then sail to Singapore and consumer markets.

Global traders and Asian solder makers taking the world's largest refined tin export flow.

January-February export slumps recur as RKAB mining and export permits await annual renewal, tightening first-quarter supply.

Permit delays, corruption probes into Bangka smelters and offshore-dredging disruptions repeatedly stall Indonesian export volumes.

No seaport — concentrate trucks overland from Man Maw in Wa State across the border into Yunnan smelters.

Tin concentrate feed of variable grade, historically supplying the largest share of Chinese smelter raw material.

Cross-border truck convoys under Wa authority control; stockpile drawdowns bridged the gap after mining was suspended in 2023.

Yunnan smelters, above all Yunnan Tin, whose treatment charges swing directly with Wa State ore availability.

Monsoon road conditions slow hauling mid-year, but permit politics in Panghsang dominate flow timing outright.

Wa State mining suspensions and licensing decisions are the single biggest supply switch in the global tin market.

Cassiterite exits via Goma and overland corridors to Mombasa and Dar es Salaam; Alphamin's Bisie ships through the same routes.

High-grade Bisie concentrate alongside variable artisanal cassiterite, all requiring 3TG conflict-minerals traceability.

Bagged concentrate under iTSCi tagging schemes trucked to East African ports, then shipped to Asian smelters.

Compliance-capable traders and smelters willing to document provenance for OECD and Dodd-Frank downstream audits.

Rainy-season road degradation slows evacuations; conflict flare-ups matter more than any predictable calendar.

M23 and North Kivu insecurity — including Bisie's 2025 suspension — plus provenance scrutiny keep DRC units at a discount.