As the old adage goes, “The only cure for high prices, is high prices.” The fundamentals of the tin market are showing this statement to be true. The high price in April prompted a sell-off of stocks in China. Now that the price is depressed Indonesia has ban exports hoping for a higher price.
As with other industrial metals, the spot price of tin is correlated with inventory levels on the supply side and the global economic recovery on the demand side. Over the last year the spot price of tin on the LME has moved from an average price last April of US $12165.8 per tonne to a current valuation of US $18695 per tonne, a gain of almost 54 percent.
It couldn't have come at a better time. Sentiment on the LME metals complex is still trapped between the conflicting signals coming from East and West, resulting in choppy, consolidatory price action. However, downside momentum has stalled across the board with predators now looking for "relative value" plays.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011