Tin prices on the London Metal Exchange seem to have stabilised between $10,000 and $11,000 at the end of February, maintaining their position rather better than most non-ferrous metals on the Exchange, though this is less than half their peak in May of last year.

According to the figures produced by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics, the refined tin market as a whole was still in deficit over the year, despite the effects of the global downturn. Indeed, the figures for mine production show a significant drop of over 11% compared to 2007 and this can only serve to support the price over the coming months, despite the reduction in demand. Medium and long-term demand is still looking good and there are no large, easily exploitable high-grade deposits on the horizon yet to be tapped, so we may have reached market balance already this year.

Indonesian tin mining giant PT Timah is taking a further step towards vertical integration of its business by constructing a tin chemical factory for the manufacture of plastics stabilisers in PT Krakatau Industrial Estate Cilegon (KIEC) Banten. The total budget for the project is Rp 250 Billion and it is targeted to be completed by the end of this year.

Cookson Group has just released its results for 2008, which the company say reflect two very different periods of trading. Over the first nine months they experienced continuing growth in their main end-markets of steel, consumer electronics and automotive. However, from late September the company saw a rapid and significant weakening, reflecting the severe global economic downturn.

As a result, the return on sales margin of 10.7% achieved over the first nine months fell to 7.3% for the last quarter of the year.

Germany’s only manufacturer of packaging steel, Rasselstein, reports a 90.9 per cent recycling rate for packaging steel, fulfilling their product responsibility by far exceeding the legally advisable 70 per cent level. The recycling rate of tinplate by end-consumers has also further increased to 92.5 per cent.

With the help from two service providers, Rasselstein guarantees the collection of used steel packaging from different collection systems and returns it to be reused in the production of steel.

IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced the January findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program.

Rigid PCB shipments are down 18.9 percent and bookings are down 30.7 percent in January 2009 from January 2008. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in January 2009 slipped further to 0.88.

The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) has unveiled its new recycling logo and invited brand owners and retailers to use the symbol in order to increase recycling awareness among consumers. CMI members believe that the logo underscores the can industry’s commitment to sustainability through its efforts to promote the many benefits of steel and aluminium can recycling.