Timah books lower profit

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed tin mining company PT Timah reported a net profit of Rp 116.4 billion (about US$10.5 million at the current rate) in the first quarter, this year.

The company said that the net profit during the January-March period represented a drop of 12 percent from the same period last year.

The state owned mining company attributed the drop in the profit to the decline in the tin prices in the international market.

Sales volumes during the first quarter of 2001 fell by 25 percent to 6,744 tons from 9,017 tons in the January-March period of last year.

The company said that the economic recession in the United States and the oversupply in the tin market were the main reasons of the lower sales volume.