Liuzhou China Tin to Restore Output Halted on Power (Update1)
By Li Xiaowei
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Liuzhou China Tin Co., China's third-largest producer of the metal, will resume production tomorrow after electricity supply is restored with the repair of power poles.
The company halted operations at its Guangxi province-based Laibin plant from July 11, Li Zhijian, a sales director, said today by phone from Liuzhou. The plant is the company's only tin production asset.
Reduced tin supply from China, the world's largest producer, helped prices climb 45 percent this year on the London Metal Exchange. A 10 percent export duty, imposed to reduce China's record trade surplus and curb overcapacity in energy-intensive industries, pushed tin exports to a low of 1 ton in June.
``Any supply problem could help boost tin prices, which seem to be in a deadlock between sellers and buyers amid poor demand,'' Zhao Ping, a tin trader at Shanghai Wanjun Trading Co., said by telephone from Shanghai.
Tin for delivery in three months rose 2.4 percent to $23,800 a ton in London at 8:40 a.m. local time.
Wire Theft
Electricity supply to the plant was suspended after wires were stolen from power poles, which then collapsed in rainstorms, the company said in a statement on its Web site.
Liuzhou had a production capacity of 13,194 metric tons for refined tin last year, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
The shutdown caused an ``economic loss'' of almost 100 million yuan ($15 million), Liuzhou said. The Laibin city power grid also suffered a 1 million yuan loss, it said.
Liuzhou's lost output shouldn't have as much impact on supplies as the summer maintenance shutdowns at Yunnan Tin Co., Wanjun Trading's Zhao said. Maintenance at Yunnan Tin usually lasts from July to August, he said.
Yunnan Tin, based in China's southwestern province, is the world's biggest producer. Li Xia, an executive in the company's investor relations department, declined to comment when reached by phone today.
To contact the reporter for this story: Li Xiaowei in Shanghai at [email protected]
Last Updated: July 16, 2008 04:03 EDT
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