World tin production declined by 2.1 percent year-over-year in 2023 to 370,100 metric tons (MT). China retained its position as the largest producer of tin with mined output of 68,000 metric tons, and Myanmar came in second at 54,000 MT.
“Alongside a difficult macroeconomic climate impacting demand, a decline in global tin production yielded a market surplus of 9,700 t,” notes the International Tin Association in its report on global tin production for 2023 and outlook for 2024. “An expected recovery in demand and ongoing supply disruptions especially in Wa State and Indonesia may bring supply tightness in 2024. We anticipate a reversal of the significant stocking seen in 2023.”
That supply tightness is beginning to emerge, sending tin prices to a 21-month high in April of this year.
“We suspect that global supply uncertainty, especially coming from the Myanmar Wa state, will play its role in supporting higher tin prices. Additionally, improving macroeconomic conditions, backed with positive seasonality, should attract fund managers to turn net long on tin again,” Fastmarkets states.
For those interested in tin stocks, it’s worth learning about the tin miners and tin refining companies that are the largest producers of the metal. Here the Investing News Network presents data from the International Tin Association’s list of the 10 top refined tin-producing companies. Together, these tin mining companies and tin refiners represent about 59 percent of global tin production.
1. Yunnan Tin Company (SZSE:000960)
Refined tin production: 80,100 MT
China’s Yunnan Tin Company was easily the largest producer of tin in 2023, putting out 80,100 metric tons of the metal, a nearly 4 percent increase from the previous year. The company, which trades on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is a subsidiary of state-owned Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Company, which traces its roots back to 1883. In addition to being the largest tin-producing company in the world, Yunnan Tin Company is also the largest precious metals research and development center in China.
2. Minsur
Refined tin production: 31,700 MT
Second on this tin producers list is Peru-based, privately owned Minsur. The company also produces gold at its Pucamarca mine. Last year, its tin output came in at 31,700 metric tons, a number that includes production from its subsidiary, Taboca, in Brazil. This figure is down by 3.1 percent from the previous year’s production level.
The company’s origins date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and it currently owns the San Rafael mine, which it bills as South America’s largest tin-producing mine. San Rafael has been operated by Minsur since 1977, and today produces about 12 percent of the world’s tin. Minsur also holds a smelter and refinery where it completes the tin production cycle.
3. Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals
Refined tin production: 21,800 MT
Founded in 1994, Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals is China’s second largest producer of tin, behind Yunnan Tin Company. In 2023, it produced 21,800 metric tons of tin, increasing its output by 5.8 percent to retain its status as the world’s third largest tin-producing company. Aside from tin, it produces indium, silver, gold, lead, bismuth and antimony.
4. Malaysia Smelting (KLSE:MSC)
Refined tin production: 20,700 MT
Malaysia Smelting put out 20,700 metric tons of tin in 2023, up 10.1 percent from the previous year, allowing it to over take PT Timah to become the fourth largest producer of tin last year. This company is also over a century old, and since 1887 has been a key integrated producer of tin and tin-based products, as well as a leader in custom tin smelting.
Malaysia Smelting is a subsidiary of Singapore’s the Straits Trading Company (SGX:S20) and has a number of its own wholly owned subsidiaries; Malaysia Smelting also has interests in several other companies.
5. PT Timah (IDX:TINS)
Refined tin production: 15,300 MT
PT Timah is a state-owned Indonesian company that was established in 1976 and is headquartered in the country’s Bangka-Belitung province. It’s a manufacturer and exporter of tin with operations ranging from exploration and mining to processing to marketing. The company has a number of subsidiaries.
Last year, PT Timah produced 15,300 metric tons of tin, a sizeable decrease of 22.7 percent from the previous year, accounting for its slide to the number five spot. In fact, the company’s tin production seems to be on a downward spiral, after producing 26,500 MT in 2021.
The company held the number one spot in 2019 as export regulations led to private smelters ceasing their own production and renting out capacity to PT Timah, effectively allowing the company to more than double its tin production that year. Those private smelters ended their contracts in 2020. A more recent reason given for the company’s declining tin production is ongoing corruption investigations related to commodities trading at the company, according to the Indonesia Business Post.
6. Guangxi China Tin
Refined tin production: 12,000 MT
Guangxi China Tin is another of the largest producers of tin, putting out 12,000 metric tons last year, up 10.1 percent from the previous year. The increase in its tin output from 2021 to 2022 moved the company up from the 10th spot to rank sixth, a level it maintained in 2023. The private company, which was established in 1990 and is the third biggest producer of tin in China, also produces indium, lead, antimony, zinc, silver, cadmium and bismuth, among other metals.
7. Empresa Metalúrgica Vinto
Refined tin production: 10,000 MT
Even though its 2023 tin production of 10,000 metric tons was down nearly 3 percent compared to 2022, Bolivian state-owned Empresa Metalúrgica (EM) Vinto moved up a peg on the top 10 tin producers list for 2023. The company receives and processes material from mining cooperatives, large- and small-scale miners and other companies that produce or sell tin concentrates.
Socio-political unrest in Peru made it difficult for EM Vinto to receive the coal shipments necessary to power its tin smelters. The company’s production is also being hampered by debt concerns.
8. Jiangxi New Nanshan
Refined tin production: 9,500 MT
Jiangxi New Nanshan entered the global tin market fairly recently compared to its peers. Its first tin smelter came online in the Chinese province of Jiangxi in 2009 with a designed capacity of 10,000 MT of refined tin per year. In 2019, Jiangxi New Nanshan became a top 10 tin producer for the first time after a 122 percent increase in tin output.
Its production was down by 12 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, coming in at 9,500 metric tons last year, and it slipped one spot to rank as the eighth largest tin producer on the list.
9. Aurubis Beerse
Refined tin production: 9,300 MT
Belgium’s Aurubis Beerse produced 9,300 metric tons of tin in 2023, an increase of 13.4 percent from the previous year. The big bump allowed the company to overtake Thailand Smelting and Refining for the ninth spot on the list. The private company operates a unique recycling and refining facility that processes secondary raw materials for the production of copper, tin, lead and nickel.
Aurubis is Europe’s largest tin producer and bills itself as a “zero waste producer.” The company also states that its tin ingots are “well known for the low level of lead content.”
10. Thailand Smelting and Refining
Refined tin production: 9,200 MT
Founded in 1963, Thailand Smelting and Refining, better known as Thaisarco, is a private firm that manufactures tin, tin alloys and tin-related value-added products. In 2023, Thaisarco produced 9,200 metric tons of the metal, down 3.2 percent from the previous year. The company has been managed and operated by the UK’s Amalgamated Metal since 1995, and Amalgamated Metal is its largest shareholder.
In November 2023, Thaisarco renewed its offtake agreements with Andrada Mining for three years. Under the agreement, Andrada will supply at least 90 MT per month of tin produced at its Uis mine in Namibia.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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