JAKARTA: Indonesia's top tin miner PT Timah has suspended all new sales until benchmark prices of the solder material rise above at least $20,000 per tonne, an official at the state-owned firm said on Saturday.
Indonesia is the world's top exporter of tin and the governor of its main producing region of Bangka-Belitung is already spearheading a separate plan to impose an export moratorium in an attempt to bolster prices that are trading near 2-1/2 year lows.
While PT Timah will not take part in any export moratorium, the miner had suspended all sales until prices recover, with the aim of achieving prices at around $20,000-$22,000 per tonne, Corporate Secretary Agung Nugroho told Reuters in a text.
"Stopped until prices bounce back to a certain level," Nugroho said when asked whether PT Timah had halted sales. "We will keep mining and exporting but stop sales."
Timah's targeted total sales of 24,000-30,000 tonnes last year and 27,000-30,000 tonnes for 2015, he said, adding that long-term contracts would be honoured.
Between 55 percent and 60 percent of Timah's total annual sales would be affected by the sales suspension, he added, which began when London prices fell below $18,000 per tonne.
Tin hit lows of $17,445 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange this week, a level not seen since August 2012.
Tin prices have been caught in a global rout that has seen oil and copper tumble to more than five-year lows, partly due to worries over ample supply and wobbly Chinese economic growth.
Over the years, Indonesia has made many attempts to crimp supplies and support prices, with little success.
Late last year, a self-imposed export slowdown backed by tin association members, new laws to close any export loopholes through a domestic trading regulation and a police crackdown on illegal shipments all failed to bolster London tin prices.
Indonesia's refined tin exports were 75,925 tonnes last year and industry groups see this falling to between 65,000 and 70,000 tonnes in 2015.
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