Indonesia's tin group says won't sell below $17,000/tonne

A group of Indonesian tin smelters said on Friday its members had slashed production, and along with the country's biggest tin exporter PT Timah, would no longer trade the metal at prices below $17,000 a tonne in an effort to stem a sell-off.
Indonesia has had limited success over the years with attempts to cut supplies and boost prices, and many traders are sceptical about the chances of the latest drive. Last month Timah and the Indonesian association agreed on a monthly export quota of 4,500 tonnes to support prices.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy is the world's biggest tin exporter and its shipments are forecast to drop 8-14 percent this year, from 75,925 tonnes in 2014. Indonesia lost its previous tight grip on the market in the past year as Myanmar has stepped up exports to top consumer China.
Tin prices on the London Metal Exchange have lost nearly 12 percent this week and are down about a quarter so far this year, trading under $15,000 on Friday.
"PT Timah and all our members will not trade below $17,000," Jabin Sufianto, president of the Indonesian Association of Tin Exporters (AETI), told Reuters in a text message.
At current prices, at least 40 percent of AETI's 20 members are not producing and the others are at half-capacity or less, he said by phone after an association meeting.
Timah's corporate secretary Agung Nugroho confirmed by text message that the state-owned company had stopped selling at below $17,000 per tonne. Timah had previously forecast 2015 output unchanged at 30,000 tonnes.
AETI members have an annual capacity of about 46,000 tonnes, and the 40 percent that had halted output had a capacity of about 12,000 tonnes a year, Sufianto said.
Demand for the solder material, used in the electronics industry, has eased in line with slower economic growth. "Persistent slow demand for tin is the key," a European tin trader said. "All sectors are poor, new orders limited although Indonesia is limiting exports, production appears unchanged, helped by very low coking coal prices."
Last year, an export slowdown backed by the same Indonesian tin association, new laws to close export loopholes through a domestic trading regulation and a police crackdown on illegal shipments all failed to bolster London tin prices.