“Price of tin can reach up to USD 20,000 per tonne,” says Xavier Jayakumar

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar announced that the government is planning to revive Malaysia’s tin mining industry.

It was reported in 2017 that there are 185 open-pit mining sites for tin in Malaysia. The amount of tin produced for that year was at 4,450,170 kg. It roughly translates to 4,905 tonnes.

Xavier added that the price of tin can reach up to USD20,000 per tonne. If Malaysia produced the same amount of tin today, the nation could sell it for up to USD98,100,000. With the exchange rate of RM 4.14 to USD1, this means that Malaysia could earn RM405,780,840.

Nevertheless, we also need to discount the amount of tin usage in Malaysia as it is impossible to export every tin that the nation mined.

Based on data by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the world mine output is dominated by China and Indonesia. Thus, it will be an uphill battle for Malaysia if there is a price war for tin.