KUALA LUMPUR – The Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) will be closed for trading next week following the suspension of Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd’s (MSC) operations during the full movement control order (MCO) 3.0 period, said a dealer.
The dealer said the tin market reopening will be based on the resumption of operations by MSC.
Yesterday, the government announced that MCO 3.0 will be extended another two weeks from June 15 until June 28 as the number of Covid-19 cases remain high.
“KLTM trading depends on the opening of MSC as its main trader. Until further announcement made by MSC, KLTM will also suspend all its activities,” he said.
Malaysia initially went into a two-week total lockdown for all social and economic sectors from June 1 until June 14.
On Wednesday, MSC issued a notice of force majeure and temporarily suspended its tin mining and smelting operations from June 4 to 14 in adherence to the enforcement of the MCO 3.0.
For the week just ended, the KLTM was traded only for one day on Tuesday following the holiday-shortened week as well as the closure of MSC.
The local tin price closed US$100 (RM410) lower at US$31,550 a tonne on Tuesday from the previous week’s close of US$31,650, with buying support from China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and European countries.
As per the only trading day, weekly turnover declined to 13 tonnes from 60 tonnes previously.
The price differential between the KLTM and London Metal Exchange narrowed to a premium of US$915 a tonne from a premium of US$1,450 last week. – Bernama, June 12, 2021
