Indonesia's January Tin Exports Slump 99% on Delayed Work Approvals

COMMODITIES - JAKARTA. Indonesia exported 0.4 metric tons of refined tin in January, down 99% from the same month last year, Trade Ministry data showed on Monday, as miners faced delays in work plan approvals.

On a monthly basis, exports also dropped from nearly 6,000 tons in December. The January exports were all tin solder and there were no tin ingot exports, the data showed.

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Exports were likely affected by delays in approval of annual work plans for mining companies, including for tin miners, said Jabin Sufianto, acting chairman of the Indonesia's Tin Exporters Association said.

All miners in Indonesia, including for tin, must secure a production plan, known as RKAB.

Starting this year, the government has changed the validity of RKAB to three years, from previously annually, intended to remove some red tapes.

"The RKABs are not issued yet, so nobody dares to start production," Jabin told Reuters.

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Indonesia's biggest tin miner PT Timah had no shipments last month, but its RKAB was approved this month, corporate secretary Abdullah Umar told Reuters.

Slow correspondence procedure between miners and the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is also exacerbating the delays, Jabin added.

The mining ministry as of mid-January was still processing most of the hundreds of RKAB requests submitted by all mineral companies, official Tri Winarno said last month.

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He did not respond on Monday to questions about the update of the approval process.