From Reuters via Mineweb:
Tin is once again failing to live up to its bull hype.LME Tin 3-month $19805-19820.
The price of the soldering metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME) last month touched a 15-month low of $19,000 per tonne. Down by over 10 percent on the start of the year, it is vying with copper and lead for worst performer of 2014.
Yet back in January analysts in the Reuters poll picked tin as a likely positive performer this year, based on a near unanimous view that supply would fail to meet demand.
Tin's supply challenge, a combination of depleting grades at existing producers and a lack of new mines, is a core part of this metal's bull narrative.
So too is Indonesia, the world's largest exporter. The country has exerted increasing control over the band of free-wheeling producers operating out of the tin-rich islands of Bangka and Belitung.
The government has introduced new minimum purity standards on exports and required everything that leaves the country to be first traded on a local bourse, the Indonesia Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (ICDX)....MORE
