Tin Price

The chemical element tin (Sn) is the 49th most abundant element in the earth’s crust, making it a scarce but not rare element. Put differently, tin accounts for approximately 0.001 percent of the crust of the earth, or 2 parts per million (ppm), compared to other non-ferrous metals such as zinc (94 ppm), copper (63 ppm), and lead (12 ppm).

 

Quick Overview of Tin

✔️An overview of the element tin (Sn) and its history
✔️The production of tin
✔️Investing in the tin as a commodity
Factors that influence the price of tin
Uses of tin
Worth knowing

 

An overview of the element tin (Sn) and its history

Tin primarily occurs in cassiterite, a black or brown mineral, and in small quantities in complex sulfides such as stannite, cylindrite, franckeite, canfieldite, and teallite, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Characteristics, also referred to as properties, of tin:

• The metal melts at 231.93 degrees Celsius (449.47 degrees Fahrenheit) and boils at 2 602 degrees Celsius (4 715 degrees Fahrenheit).
• It is both ductile (the ability to be stretched without pulling to pieces), and malleable (easy to press, changing in different forms.)
• It has a significantly high crystalline structure.
• Tin occurs in two different forms, namely white (or beta) tin, which is the familiar form and grey (or alpha) tin, a powdery tin with no metallic properties and no known uses. Grey tin gradually transforms to white tin above 13.2° Celsius (55.76° Fahrenheit). Conversely, white tin changes to grey tin if its temperature falls below 13.2 degrees Celsius. Although, this transformation can be prevented by adding small quantities of antimony or bismuth to white tin.
• In the periodic table of elements, tin is categorised as a post-transition metal, and represented by the atomic symbol Sn. In addition, it is part of group 14 and has the atomic number 50, indicating the number of protons in the nucleus of the metal.
• Its density is calculated at 7.287 grams per cubic centimetre.
• Ordinary tin appears silver-white.
• Tin is in a solid-state at room temperature.
• It is not easily oxidized and is corrosion-resistant.
• Tin is nontoxic.

The metal’s atomic symbol is an abbreviation of the Latin word for tin, stannum.

 

The history of tin

The exact date of tin’s discovery is not known. However, there is archaeological evidence indicating that humans started to use it more than 5 000 years ago. Although, initially not on its own but in bronze, a copper-tin alloy.

During the Bronze Age (3300 – 1000 BCE), bronze was used to manufacture tools and weapons. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, bronze instruments were common in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, Crete, and Peru. ‘Tin mines were operating in both the Inca and Aztec domains of South and Central America before the Spanish conquest.’

Tin was mined in the Chinese province Yunnan around 700 BCE and in the Scilly Isles and in Cornwall in Britain at least between 300 – 200 BCE.

Examples of the use of tin in its own right are:

• A tin ring was found in a tomb of the eighteenth dynasty (1580 – 1350 BCE) in Egypt.
• ‘Researchers excavating at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 2011 discovered a button-sized piece of tin stamped with the Aramaic words ‘pure for God.’ This seal may have been used to mark ceremonially pure objects for rituals, according to a report in the Haaretz Newspaper,’ as mentioned by Live Science. (Accentuation by the article writer.)
• The Romans coated their copper vessels with tin to keep them bright looking.
• Tinplate (iron coated with tin) was used for metal containers in England in the seventeenth century.

The origin of the tin can be traced back to 1810 when Peter Durand, a British merchant, was granted a patent for using tinplated steel to can food.

 

The production of tin

Major global producers of tin

The top ten global producers of tin in 2025 were China, Indonesia, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Australia, Vietnam, Russia, and Malaysia. According to US Geological Survey, the global mine production of tin in 2025 was about 300 000 tonnes, an increase of 14 percent compared to the 264 000 tonnes mined in 2025.

China and Indonesia produced about 54 percent of the world’s tin in 2025.

According to the International Tin Association, in terms of companies, the top 10 producers of refined tin in 2025 were:

The production figures are based on provisional data and are rounded to the nearest 100 tonnes.

• The Chinese Yunnan Tin Company, a subsidiary of the state-owned Yunnan Tin Group Holding Company, is by far the largest tin-producing company in the world, producing 82 000 tonnes of refined tin in 2025, which is 9.6 percent higher than the 74 800 tonnes in 2025.
• The second-largest producer in 2025 was the privately-owned company located in Peru, namely Minsur, replacing PT Timah in the second spot. Its output was 31 43 tonnes, increasing from 25 075 tonnes in 2025. The figures include production from its Brazilian subsidiary Taboca.

It possesses the San Rafael mine, which Minsur considers as South America’s largest tin-producing mine, producing about 12 percent of the world’s tin.

The company is also the owner of a tin smelter and refinery.

• In 2025, Indonesia’s state-owned company, PT Timah, was considered the third largest company producing refined tin, dropping one place from its 2025 ranking. PT Timah’s production amounted to 26 500 tonnes, a reduction of 19 200 tonnes or 42.0% in the production of 2025, which were 45 700 tonnes of refined tin. The company’s operations include exploration, mining, processing, and marketing of the metal.
• Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals is China’s second-largest producer of tin and the fourth largest global tin producer. It produced 17 000 tonnes of tin in 2025, slightly higher than its 2025 production of 16 500 tonnes. In addition to tin production, it produces other metals such as antimony, bismuth, gold, indium, lead, and silver.
• Malaysia Smelting Corp (MSC) dropped from third place in 2025 to fifth place in 2025, producing 16 400 tonnes in 2025, compared to 22 400 tonnes of refined tin in 2025, reflecting a decline of 26.8 percent in production. This was mainly due to strict Covid-19 regulations imposed by the Malaysian government.

MSC is a subsidiary of the Straits Trading Company of Singapore. Besides being an important integrated producer of tin and tin-based products, MSC plays a leading role in custom tin smelting.

• Thailand Smelting and Refining, commonly known as Thaisarco, is a private company with Amalgamated Metal of the United Kingdom as the main shareholder. Thaisarco is the manufacturer of tin, tin alloys, and tin-related value-added products. The firm produced 12 100 tonnes of tin in 2025, compared to tin production of 11 300 tonnes in 2025.
• EM Vinto, a smelter owned by the Bolivian mining organisation COMIBO, re-entered the top 10 list at position seven, with a refined tin production of 12 100 tonnes in 2025, increasing from 7 100 tonnes in 2025. This reflects a significant increase of 70.4%.
• China’s third-largest tin producer, the tin smelter Jiangxi New Nanshan, maintained its top eighth position on the top 10 list, producing 11 600 tonnes of tin in 2025 (2020: 10 100 tonnes). It became a top 10 tin producer in 2019.
• Aurubis Beerse, located in Belgium, and formerly known as Metallo Chimique, is a private company that operates a ‘unique recycling and refining facility, processing secondary raw materials for the production of copper, lead, and tin, to name a few.

The company produced 9 800 tonnes of refined tin in 2025, compared to 9 000 tonnes in 2025, allowing it to retain its position as the ninth-largest producer of refined tin in the world.

• A drop of 8.9 percent in tin production in 2025, pushed Guangxi China Tin from position seven to position ten in the top 10 list, making the company China’s fourth-largest tin producer. The private company produced 9 200 tonnes of refined tin in 2025, 900 tonnes down from its production of 10 100 tonnes in 2025.

The top 10 companies listed above produced 59 percent of the global tin production in 2025, which was 8 percent down from their combined production in 2025.

 

The production process of tin

Based on information obtained from Agiboo, the steps in the process to make tin can be summarised as follows:

• Mining

The type of mining required to extract tin ore depends on the source of the ore deposit.

Some tin ore deposits, like those in Bolivia and England, are located deep underground, requiring tunnels to reach the ore, and crushing equipment to reduce the ore to a workable size in order to move it to the surface. This ore contains about one percent of tin by weight.

Other tin deposits, like those in Southeast Asia, occur in gravel along riverbeds or in valleys. This ore comprises as little as one-hundredth of a percent of tin by weight. About 80 percent of the world’s tin is found in these alluvial fields.

Deposits of gravel containing tin are mined by one of several surface-mining methods, such as gravel pumping, dredging, and open-pit mining.

 

• Dredging

When the gravel deposits occur below the water level in the river or stream, they are brought to the surface by using a floating dredge in which the gravel is moved through a series of shakers and revolving screens to separate the tin ore from the gravel.

 

• Gravel pumping

Gravel pumping is described as follows by Agiboo: ‘When the deposits of gravel are situated above the water level, they are fragmented by jets of water pumped by large water-cannons. The mud that breaks off the deposit is collected in a man-made pond. Subsequently, it is pumped in a sloped trough with riffles (wooden slats), where the tin ore is collected for further processing.’ (Accentuations by the article writer.)

 

• Concentrating

The collected tin ore is forced through several vibrating screens to remove the tin from coarser materials.

The ore then usually passes through a classifying tank filled with water in which the heavier ore drops to the bottom while finer silt particles and lighter material float on top, which is removed to obtain the enriched tin ore.

It may also be necessary to pass the tin ore through a floatation tank, where certain chemicals are added, allowing the tin particles to float to the surface where they overflow into troughs, where the enriched tin ore is collected.

Lastly, the ore is dried and passed through a separator which magnetically removes any iron particles. The tin ore obtained after the concentrating process is now approximately 70 to 75 percent tin by weight and consists mostly of cassiterite.

 

• Smelting

Smelting also referred to as roasting, refers to the process in which the cassiterite is roasted with carbon like coal or fuel oil in a furnace heated to 1 400° Celsius (2 550° Fahrenheit), causing the carbon to react with the carbon dioxide in the furnace to form carbon monoxide. Subsequently, the carbon monoxide reacts with the cassiterite to create carbon dioxide and crude tin.

 

• Refining

The crude tin is placed in a furnace with a low temperature where the temperature is slightly raised, allowing only the tin – which has a low melting point – to melt, and leaving other metals, such as copper and iron, solid.

The next step is to collect the melted tin and place it in a poling kettle, where it is agitated with compressed air, steam, or poles of moist green wood, which generate steam along with agitation by stirring the melted tin. Most of the impurities rise to the top as scum and are removed, leaving refined pure tin of 99.8 percent.

To produce tin of even higher purity, electrolytic refinement is used.

The high purity tin is moulded into small bars weighing approximately one kilogram and the lower grade tin into ingots weighing between 11 and 45 kilograms.

 

Recycling of tin

With regard to the recycling of tin, the following remarks of the International Tin Association are noteworthy:

(Accentuations in the remarks about tin cycling are by the article writer.)

• Tin can be infinitely recycled to the same high quality due to its intrinsic properties and economic value.
• The availability of secondary and recycled tin is also crucial for the future. Due to the metal’s versatility and unique properties, it is used in numerous new technologies such as solar technologies and fuel cells technology.
• In tin production, the average recycled content can be quantified as the ‘Recycling Input Rate’ (RIR), which measures the percentage contribution of recycled ‘secondary’ tin, both in refined and unrefined forms. The RIR of tin was 30 percent in 2019. Re-refined tin contributed 17 percent of total tin use.
• End-of-life electronics and soldier manufacturing by-products remain the largest potential sources of recycled tin for the future.

 

Investing in the lead as a commodity

It is important to use the services of a recommended, regulated commodity broker who will be able to provide an investment platform and guidance about the variety of options available to invest in tin as a commodity.

Ways to invest in tin as a commodity

 

• Tin futures

Tin futures also called futures contracts, are available for trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME). A tin futures contract represents 5 metric tonnes of 99.85% pure tin. The price is quoted in US dollars

Put simply, a futures contract is an agreement to trade a specific quantity of lead in the future at a pre-defined price.

Bear in mind, that trading with futures can be complicated, costly, and not practical because a certain margin in a trading account has to be maintained and the contracts are physically settled by the delivering of the commodity bought.

• Tin bullion

Tin bullion such as ingots and small bars is the most direct way to invest in tin. Although, a safe storage facility is required to store the ingots or bars.

• Tin exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

ETFs, also referred to as exchange-traded products (ETPs), are investment funds that hold a collection of underlying assets, such as shares and commodities like tin. ETFs trade as shares on stock exchanges in the same way as ordinary shares do.

Several ETFs include exposure to tin, along with other metals like copper, lead, nickel, and copper, to name a few.

The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Tin ETN is an ETF that trades tin futures.

• Shares of publicly traded companies

Another possibility is to consider investing in companies involved in the mining and/or refining of tin. Names of and information about these companies can be obtained from your chosen commodity broker.

 

 

Factors that influence the price of tin

The supply and demand for tin and subsequently the price of tin, are influenced by a number of factors, such as:

• Recovery of tin production from Covid-19 restrictions

The International Tin Association mentioned that tin production in 2025 exceeded 2019 and 2025 levels. The Association does not ‘expect further COVID-related issues and foresee production to continue rising in 2025, with 4% growth forecast.’

The increase in the global supply of tin may affect the price of tin negatively.

• Similar to other commodities, tin demand and supply will increase or decrease in line with economic stability, growth, or decline. For example, China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of tin, plays a key role in the demand and supply of tin. The health of the Chinese economy and environmental regulations imposed by the Chinese government will certainly affect the demand for and supply of metal.

Tin is a key component in construction and luxurious electronics. An economic downfall will trigger a drop in the use of tin and thus a decline in the price of tin.

• Shipping constraints

Shipping container shortages and bottlenecks at shipping terminals intensify supply constraints, which may affect the price of tin.

• Increasing energy costs

The mining, extraction, and refining of tin require a significant amount of energy. Rising fuel and electricity costs could increase the global price of metal. On the other hand, more mining operations could be terminated, reducing the global supply of tin.

 

Uses of tin

Tin is a metal probably best known for its application in tin cans. Although, a tin can is actually manufactured from steel, which is covered by a thin layer of tin to keep the steel from rusting.

Once widely used from the 1800s until the mid-1900s, tin cans have largely been replaced with cheaper and lighter aluminium cans.

Despite the fact that tin is no longer the preferred metal for cans, it still has numerous current uses. For instance:

• Tin-plating protects iron from corrosion, while tin piping and valves maintain purity in water.
• A mold of molten tin is used in the Pilkington process to produce window glass with a silky-smooth surface.
• Tin salts can be sprayed onto glass to create electrically conductive coatings for frost-free windshields and panel lighting.
• Tin is used in several useful alloys, such as:
• Solder (a tin/lead alloy).
• An alloy of tin and niobium is used to make superconductive wire.
• Tin compounds are used in electronics, coatings and ceramics colouring agents, cement, and fire retardants, to name a few.
• Furthermore, tin is widely used ‘in the environmental and sustainability landscape, particularly in photovoltaic installations, electric vehicles, and electronics,’ according to Trading Economics.

 

Worth knowing

The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, awarded by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, are not made of solid gold. Actually, they are made of Britannia metal, containing about 92 percent of tin.

When tin is bent at room temperature, it makes an eerie, high-pitched creaking sound, referred to as the ‘tin cry.’ The sound is caused by the deformation of the metal’s crystals.

 

Note: This article does not constitute investment, financial, or trading advice. Please obtain the advice of a professional and regulated commodity broker before making trading and investment decisions.