Reuters, December 3-The price of tin has almost doubled from a year ago and is expected to record the largest annual increase in more than 30 years. user.

For automakers that use tin in coatings, bearings, brake pads, and batteries, due to China's restrictions on energy-intensive industries, the shortage of semiconductor chips and the soaring prices of aluminum and magnesium have led to rising tin costs.

The main use of tin is as a solder, and it performed better than other industrial metals in 2021, with an increase of more than 90% on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Since trading restarted in 1989, four years after the closure of the International Tin Council forced the suspension of trading, it is expected to record the largest annual increase.

LME tin soared above US$40,000 per ton for the first time last week, and in China, the world's largest refined tin market, tin prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have risen by about 100% this year.

CRU senior consultant Willis Thomas said: “There are few places in the value chain that have not felt the pain caused by rising tin prices.”

However, he added that photovoltaic (PV) companies that use solder ribbon to connect solar cells may be the most affected because "hot price competition means they have no chance to pass on the increased costs to customers." In photovoltaic panels. "

Cui Lin, China's chief representative of the International Tin Industry Association (ITA), estimates that the demand for tin in the photovoltaic industry will increase to about 15,000 tons this year, compared to only 8,000 tons in 2019.

"Inventories continue to decrease, which has a considerable impact on prices," she said.

Tin stocks in LME registered warehouses fell to the lowest level since 1989 at the beginning of November and are currently only 1,365 tons. Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks are nearing a five-year low.

Due to restrictions on electricity consumption this year, Chinese tin smelters have had to cut production, albeit to a different degree than aluminum and magnesium manufacturers, and many other tin supply restrictions are worrying the market.

According to data from Antaike, a state-backed research institution, due to COVID-19 containment measures, Myanmar’s ore shipments have been repeatedly interrupted, which has restricted China’s refined tin production. Nevertheless, the first 10 months of 2021 increased by 15.1% year-on-year.

Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSCB.KL), the world's third-largest refined tin producer in 2020, announced the delivery of force majeure in June, and Indonesia is considering a ban on tin exports from 2024. read more

"With tin in particular, supply disruptions and low inventories have been key themes last year," said Tom Mulqueen, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading (AMT) Ltd.

ITA estimates that global refined tin consumption fell 1.6% last year to 361,900 tons due to the pandemic disrupting global industries, and it will increase by 7.2% in 2021.

However, in some respects, life under the blockade is a boon to Tin.

"Tin demand has benefited a lot from the rapid transition to home work," Marquen said, noting that white goods and electrical appliances that still use more tin-intensive circuit board technology have increased spending, especially in China, as well as the use of tinplate packaging. Demand for non-perishable commodities.

"As the global economy returns to normal after the pandemic, are some tin-specific pandemic drivers beginning to fade? I think this is a key issue and uncertainty for demand next year," he added.

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