Tin steadied on Friday after tumbling to its lowest since 2009 as a sell-off triggered by worries about a supply glut and weak demand gathered pace, while copper gained on hopes of stronger demand. Three-month tin on the London Metal Exchange hit $13,600 a tonne, the lowest since September 2009 and a drop of 9 percent since Thursday's close at $15,000. However, it ended down 1 percent at $14,850 a tonne.
"China is importing about 30,000 tonnes of tin concentrate a year from Myanmar. There is scepticism about whether Indonesian producers will sign up to the idea of cutting exports," said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Societe Generale.
"Electronics demand, the biggest component of tin demand, for solder seems to be struggling in Asia."
Indonesia's tin association said its members and PT Timah , the country's biggest tin exporter, will not trade at prices below $17,000 a tonne.
Tin's 25 percent fall this year has as yet failed to persuade Indonesian and Chinese producers to cut output.
But LME tin stocks have been falling this year, calling into question bets on further price falls for some industry participants.
"Tin was extremely oversold this morning. These are unsustainably low prices. Below $18,000 a tonne marginal producers struggle to make a profit," said William Adams, head of research at Fast Markets.
Open interest on LME tin stands at 22,990 lots, of which 2,595 lots are bets on lower prices.
Copper rose to a three-week high of $6,147 but was last bid down at $6,050 from $6,060 at Thursday's close. The rise to multi-week highs is partly due to the weaker dollar and partly due to China.
"Lots of people think China is past the worst and that together with mine disruptions is making them bullish. I'm not so sure; China data has been very weak," another trader said.
"Some are betting on China's (electricity) grid to boost demand, but it may be that a lot of incremental grid investment is going into high voltage cabling which actually could be aluminium and not copper."
Aluminium closed down at $1,815 a tonne from $1,820, while nickel ended down at $12,555 from $12,845.
Zinc hit $2,245, the highest since December 5 but later closed down at $2,213 from $2,228. Lead rose to $2,053, the highest since December 1, but was last bid down at $2,031 from $2,045. Both metals have been bolstered by falling LME stocks.