April 4, 2023

News:

• Tin’s importance as a “technology” metal has been understated for many years, leading to little investment in new mines, according to the International Tin Association (ITA).
• Based on the ITA’s estimates, the world will need at least 50,000 mt more tin per year due to the “technology surge” that will occur by 2030. This is mainly due to an expected ramp-up in demand from the EV and solar technology sectors.
• This expected ramp-up in demand will require over $1 billion in investment in new mines and mining-related technology.
• In the past 20 years, only a “handful” of new tin mines have been brought online.
• Due to higher tin prices and improving technologies over recent years, existing and abandoned mines will be likely reassessed for further development. Soaring demand and prices for certain tin mining byproducts (such as lithium) could also make some existing or abandoned mines more economically feasible.

Market Commentary:

• AEGIS notes that except for during the pandemic global tin production has grown steadily over the past 10 years, as 230,000 mt was mined in 2013, compared with 310,000 mt in 2022, according to the USGS. However, this development pace is nearly 5x behind the ITA’s expected ramp-up in demand over the coming years.  
• The US is heavily reliant upon imports, as no tin has been mined or smelted here since 1993 or 1989, respectively.
• LME tin is relatively thinly traded compared to copper or aluminum; however, AEGIS can help tin end-users develop and implement appropriate strategies.
• Please contact us for details.

Note: Clients with AEGIS Platform access can see this and other research, plus hedge portfolio reporting and tools here. 

Price Indications

Today's Charts

AEGIS Insights

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4/3/2023: Cliffs raises HRC to $1,300/st

4/3/2023: Factbox: Automakers accelerate drive to secure battery raw materials

4/3/2023: Germany's Speira more than doubles aluminium recycling capacity

Important Disclosure: Indicative prices are provided for information purposes only, and do not represent a commitment from AEGIS Hedging Solutions LLC ("Aegis") to assist any client to transact at those prices, or at any price, in the future. Aegis makes no guarantee to the accuracy or completeness of such information. Aegis and/or its trading principals do not offer a trading program to clients, nor do they propose guiding or directing a commodity interest account for any client based on any such trading program. Certain information in this presentation may constitute forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “edge,” “advantage,” “opportunity,” “believe” or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance or activities.