Ann: Mt Cobalt Drilling Results, page-47

your logic is sound, but china is a net importer of tin and consumes 100% of its production and then imports a boat load more, so there would be very unlikely to be tin outflow from china. So my thinking is, that even if you effectively pooled the inventory and made the inventory number look bigger, the order numbers would be larger in parrallel but still going to the same locations in the same amount. Ultimately, it would be a net zero transaction but with liquidity increasing. The cost of storage per location would not be effected imo as LME and the shadow storage folk would just carry on as usaul.

if i'm honest i think this is just the LME recognising that china is pretty much the tin centre of the universe and to not be there is missing out on $$$ ( as evidenced by the futures price cascading during the asian holidays). I don't think it will have an impact writ large throughout the industry and the supply and demand challenge will remain.... however, if liquidity increased there may be higher demand for trading the futures contract would could create an artificial volatility both good and bad.