Tin: Flying high again

When I was in Primary school in the early 60s, I learnt that tin was an important metal. It was also an important export of the Malayan Peninsula, along with rubber.

In the mid 1980s, I became an equities broker specializing in M’sia. At that time, tin was irrelevant both as a metal and as an export.

A few years ago no one paid much attention to tin. The market was too small, both in terms of physical volumes and futures activity, to qualify for investment with most fund managers.

That is changing as the world wakes up to tin’s central role in the coming Internet of Things Age. No circuit boards, no internet. And very little else in our hyper-connected world.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/metals/tin-price-bubble-spells-toil-trouble-global-industry-2026-01-16/

Today

Tin and other critical minerals & Trump

Tin’s conductive properties mean that its main use today is as a solder. It is used in the construction of electric cars, electronic circuits, and solar panels. These are all central to automation and the energy transition.

The overall market size is tiny. Some 380,000 tonnes of tin were refined last year. This is compared with 26m of copper, another important industrial ingredient. Three countries—China, Indonesia and Peru—accounted for 74% of global output. Indonesia is planning to take a bigger slice of profits, creating a risk that domestic output slides further.

In mid-March, Alphamin suspended production. It is a firm that operates a large mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This action was due to attacks by insurgents.

The US helped broker an agreement. This agreement led to Rwandan-backed insurgents withdrawing from an area near the Alphamin Resources’ tin mine.

The mine and surrounding area contributed nearly 10 per cent of global tin production last year. The US is trying to make a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The arrangement would allow American companies to take more control of critical mineral assets. In return, there will be greater backing for the embattled Kinshasa government.