According to Malaysia Smelting Company, tin prices that have dropped 41% from a record in April may endanger smaller producers of the metal.

Mr Mohammad Ajib Anuar CEO of Malaysia Smelting Company said that “20% of the world’s producers will go out of business at the current price level. It can happen very quickly because they are sensitive to prices.”

Mr Anuar said that smaller producers of tin used in solders that join metals together and in packaging, face output costs of USD 20,000 per tonne to USD 25,000 per tonne. Tin for delivery in three months traded at USD 19,925 on the London Metal Exchange compared with the all time high of USD 33,600 reached April 11.

He said that Malaysia Smelting produced about 45,000 tonnes of tin last year including its Indonesian operations. The company is the industry’s second largest producer.

Producers in Indonesia which supplies 40% of global exports banned overseas deliveries as of October 1st 2011 in an effort to drive prices back to USD 25,000 per tonne. Malaysia Smelting’s Indonesian unit shipped 400 tonnes to Singapore on November 26th 2011 the first export since September.

(Sourced from Bloomberg.net)