LONDON- Tin prices rocketed to all-time highs on Friday on persistent supply issues and low inventories, although uncertainty regarding China’s Evergrande kept a lid on metals prices.
Benchmark tin on the London Metal Exchange rose to a record $36,830 a ton, and was up 3.5 percent at $36,700.
Prices for the metal have been fuelled by supply disruptions in major producing countries and booming demand for electronics, where the metal is used for soldering to connect components.
“A combination of supply issues and a pick up in demand means stocks are very low,” said James Willoughby, an analyst at the International Tin Association (ITA).
LME tin prices were also tracking record prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), where stocks in warehouses were thin, he said.
The global tin market deficit is expected to rise to 12,700 tons in 2022 from 10,200 tons this year, the ITA said in June.
Elsewhere, uncertainty around the future of China’s debt-laden Evergrande kept a lid on prices as investors fretted over the wider effects of a possible default by the property developer.
This could create “negative headwinds for base metals heavily utilized in construction such as copper and aluminum”, StoneX analyst Natalie Scott-Gray said in a note.
