Tin Prices

Tin prices fell in recent weeks amid weak demand. Prices averaged USD 26,040 per metric ton in August, 9.4% lower than July’s price but up 5.6% year on year. On 31 August, tin traded at USD 25,101 per metric ton, down 12.4% month on month.

On 1 August, tin mining in Wa State, an area controlled by Myanmar’s largest ethnic armed organization—the United Wa State Army—was suspended, as had been expected since April. Prices had risen in the preceding months as producers stocked up in anticipation of the ban in top producer Myanmar. Accordingly, the price was broadly stable in early August, but it began to plummet in the middle of the month, as weak manufacturing activity in China and Western economies—signaled by pessimistic PMI data—and high inventories kept a lid on demand.