|
China has
lowered its 2013 export quota for tin but left it unchanged on a range
of minor metals, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Thursday.
The
ministry cut next year's tin quota by 5.6% to 17,000 metric tons.
Tin
exports from China, the world's top producer of tin, tungsten, antimony
and molybdenum, have been falling well short of the quota for years amid
rising local demand and an appreciating yuan.
Exports in
the first nine months this year were just 1,200 tons.
The
government controls the export of these metals in a bid to meet domestic
demand. It left quotas for tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, indium and
silver unchanged after cutting them last year.
China's
restrictions on exports of molybdenum and tungsten, in addition to rare
earths, are the subject of an ongoing complaint filed by the U.S., the
European Union and Japan at the WTO.
Following
is a breakdown of the new quotas (all figures are in tonnes):
|
Metal |
2013 |
2012 |
|
Tungsten
(pure content and metal products) |
15400 |
15400 |
|
Tin(pure content and metal products) |
17000 |
18000 |
|
Antimony(pure content and metal products) |
59400 |
59400 |
|
Molybdenum(pure content and metal products) |
25000 |
25000 |
|
Indium(pure content) |
231 |
231 |
|
Silver (pure content) |
5387 |
5387 |
Source:
Dow Jones |
|
