Tin price at 7-month low

Tin price at 7-month low

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The price of tin plunged to a seven-month low yesterday on the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market on lack of buying support amid a sharp fall on the London Metal Exchange.

It closed 26 sen lower at 12.99 ringgit (US$5.2) a kilogram (2.2 pounds), the first time it has slipped below the 13.00 ringgit level since dropping to 12.80 ringgit per kilogram on Jan. 14.

Turnover fell to 52 tons from Friday's 73 tons.

On the London Metal Exchange, three-month tin plunged US$70 to close at $5,310 per ton on Friday.

Tin prices peaked at 29.15 ringgit a kilogram in the mid 1980s before the tin market crashed in October 1985. Prices have remained low, particularly over the past five years due to high excess stocks and lackluster demand.

Malaysia, once the world's largest miner, is expected to see its tin output fall to 8,000 tons this year, the lowest since World War II, from its peak of 76,830 tons in 1972.