ATPC MEMBERS FIND WAYS TO CURB TIN EXPORTS

  Mine and industry officials from
  most member states of the Association of Tin Producing
  Countries (ATPC) say they have found ways to limit group
  exports to 96,000 tonnes in the year started March 1, according
  to views polled by Reuter correspondents.
      The plan to curb exports, agreed in January, is aimed at
  cutting the world surplus to 50,000 tonnes from 70,000 now and
  boosting prices to about 19 ringgit a kilo from just over 16.
      Members of the seven-member Kuala Lumpur-based ATPC account
  for some 65 pct of the world's tin output.
      Under the ATPC plan, Malaysia has been allocated an export
  quota of 28,526 tonnes, Indonesia 24,516, Thailand 19,000,
  Bolivia 13,761, Zaire 1,736 and Nigeria 1,461.
      Australia has said it is not setting any export quota.
  However, the tonnage allocated to it, 7,000 tonnes, is roughly
  equal to its expected output this year.
      Comment from officials in Zaire was unavailable.
      Mine officials in Malaysia, the world's leading producer,
  said only 188 mines will be allowed to operate to ensure that
  output is limited to around 31,500 tonnes in the year started
  March 1.
      Chief Inspector of Mines Redzuan Sumun told Reuters that
  excess output of some 3,000 tonnes after exports of 28,500 in
  the one-year quota period would be kept in the national stock.
      Mine owners in Malaysia have welcomed the ATPC export curb
  and asked the government not to issue new mining licences. More
  than 100 applications for licences are pending.
      Redzuan said the Mines Department would approve new mining
  licences only if a six-month review of production trends showed
  that local mines were not overproducing.
      ATPC chairman and Indonesia's Mining and Energy Minister
  Subroto has pledged his country's support for the export curb.
      A spokesman for the state-owned tin mining company PT
  Tambang Timah told Reuters it would be easy for Indonesia to
  stick to an export quota of 24,516 tonnes because this was
  close to exports in calendar 1986 of 24,636.
      In Bangkok, Thai Industry Minister Pramual Sabhavasu said
  Thailand would keep to its 19,000 tonne quota and added this
  would not cause the local industry hardship at current prices.
      To insure adherence, the industry ministry and sole tin
  exporter Thailand Smelting and Refining Co would encourage
  bigger stockpiles, and income tax exemptions would be
  permitted, he said.
      The Thai Mineral Resources Department is expected to
  disallow new tin mines opening this year to prevent excessive
  production, industry sources said.
      But Mining Industry Council President Dam Teutong told
  Reuters that if the tin price rose above 18 ringgit a kilo,
  Thai miners would press for the opening of more new mines.
      Thailand exported 18,367 tonnes in 1986, up from 17,359 in
  1985, Pramual said.
      Bolivia said it expects to export less tin this year than
  its allocated 13,761 tonne quota.
      Mining Minister Jaimie Villalobos told Reuters in La Paz
  that Bolivia expected to export about 9,000 tonnes of tin in
  calendar 1987.
      He said this was due to the sacking after the tin crisis of
  October 1985 of about 20,000 of the 28,000 workers at the state
  mining company Comibol, which produces more than 80 pct of
  Bolivia's total exports.
      He said there were risks in the ATPC plan to cut exports
  but added he was confident the goals set by the plan would be
  achieved. He did not elaborate.
      Mines, Power and Steel Minister Bunu Sheriff Musa said in
  Lagos that Nigeria would have no difficulty keeping within its
  ATPC quota of 1,461 tonnes because its metals output had
  declined due to poor demand and high production costs.
      Industry sources told Reuters that Nigeria's output was
  less than 1,000 tonnes last year.
      ATPC officials said they would monitor member countries'
  export figures every three months using customs documents and
  make projections from such data to see if quotas were likely to
  be breached within the year-long quota period.
      The ATPC officials said members that appeared likely to
  breach their quotas would be told to take remedial measures.
      They added that if member countries were unable to fulfil
  their quotas their extra tonnage would be reallocated to other
  members at the ATPC's discretion.
      The ATPC would have produced and exported an estimated
  106,000 tonnes of tin in 1987 without the plan.
      Non-members Brazil and China have pledged to cooperate with
  the ATPC and limit their exports to 21,000 and 7,000 tonnes
  respectively during the quota period.
  

