chinese tin usage to grow 10.4 percent

Chinese Tin usage to grow 10.4% ,from 132,300t to 146,000t according to Antaike ,the countries leading non ferrous metals research organisation .This is due to strong growth in the electronics industry . Solder is by far the largest consumer of Tin . Not only that ,Tin growth is expected to be 10% for the next few years .
Unfortunately ,supply cannot keep up with demand , due to lack of new mines ,and exports of tin from China are expected to drop dramatically from 10,688t in 2007 ,to 6,000t in 2008.
Bearing in mind that the total LME stockpile is only about 8,000t total ,these numbers are extremely telling .Next years forecast demand in China ,would wipe out the whole LME stockpile by nearly double .
When you look at the supply problems in Indonesia ,from banning illegal Tin mining and taxes on Chinese tin , it looks like the perfect storm brewing in the Tin market .We have already seen tin up over 50% in the past year and there is nothing on the horizon to stop it .....nothing .
Lots of Tin articles hitting the news now ,and expect to see a flood of speculative investment in this sector very soon ,and MLX is the worlds prime target thanks to its world class Tin mine due to begin production within the next couple of months .Articles on Tin can be founed on Itri ,Basemetals.com ,and Kitco Base metals ,and Forbes .