Tin Stocks: 10 Biggest Producers in 2023

1. Yunnan Tin Company (SZSE:000960)

Refined tin production: 77,100 MT

China’s Yunnan Tin Company was easily the largest producer of tin in 2022, putting out 77,100 MT of the metal, a 6 percent decrease from the previous year. The company, which trades on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is a subsidiary of state-owned Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Company, which traces its roots back to 1883. In addition to being the largest tin-producing company in the world, Yunnan Tin Company is also the largest precious metals research and development center in China.

2. Minsur

Refined tin production: 32,700 MT

Second on this tin producers list is Peru-based, privately owned Minsur. The company also produces gold at its Pucamarca mine. Last year, its tin output came in at 32,700 MT, a number that includes production from its subsidiary, Taboca, in Brazil.

The company’s origins date back to the beginning of the 20th century, and it currently owns the San Rafael mine, which it bills as South America’s largest tin-producing mine. San Rafael has been operated by Minsur since 1977, and today produces about 12 percent of the world’s tin. Minsur also holds a smelter and refinery where it completes the tin production cycle.

3. Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals

Refined tin production: 20,600 MT

Founded in 1994, Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals is China’s second largest producer of tin, behind Yunnan Tin Company. In 2022, it produced 20,600 MT of tin, increasing its output by 3,600 MT to overtake PT Timah as the world's third largest tin-producing company. Aside from tin, it produces indium, silver, gold, lead, bismuth and antimony. It has over 1,800 sets of smelting equipment, as well as 100 sets of environmental protection equipment.

4. PT Timah (IDX:TINS)

Refined tin production: 19,800 MT

PT Timah is a state-owned Indonesian company that was established in 1976 and is headquartered in the country's Bangka-Belitung province. It’s a manufacturer and exporter of tin with operations ranging from exploration and mining to processing to marketing. The company has a number of subsidiaries.

Last year, PT Timah produced 19,800 MT of tin, a sizeable decrease from 26,500 MT in 2021, accounting for its slide to the number four spot. The company held the number one spot in 2019 as export regulations led to private smelters ceasing their own production and renting out capacity to PT Timah, effectively allowing the company to more than double its tin production that year. Those private smelters ended their contracts in 2020.

5. Malaysia Smelting (KLSE:MSC)

Refined tin production: 18,800 MT

The fifth largest producer of tin last year was Malaysia Smelting, which put out 18,800 MT of tin in 2022, up from 16,400 MT of the metal in 2021. This company is also over a century old, and since 1887 has been a key integrated producer of tin and tin-based products, as well as a leader in custom tin smelting.

Malaysia Smelting is a subsidiary of Singapore’s the Straits Trading Company (SGX:S20) and has a number of its own wholly owned subsidiaries; Malaysia Smelting also has interests in several other companies.

6. Guangxi China Tin

Refined tin production: 10,900 MT

Guangxi China Tin is another of the largest producers of tin, putting out 10,900 MT last year, up from 9,200 MT in 2021. The increase in its tin output moved the company up from the 10th spot in the previous year to rank sixth in 2022. The private company, which was established in 1990 and is the third biggest producer of tin in China, also produces indium, lead, antimony, zinc, silver, cadmium and bismuth, among other metals.

7. Jiangxi New Nanshan

Refined tin production: 10,800 MT

As its name suggests, Jiangxi New Nanshan entered the global tin market fairly recently when its first tin smelter came online in the Chinese province of Jiangxi in 2009. The smelter originally had a designed capacity of 10,000 MT of refined tin per year.

In 2019, Jiangxi New Nanshan became a top 10 tin producer after a 122 percent increase in tin output. However, its production was down by nearly 7 percent in 2022 compared to 2021.

8. Empresa Metalúrgica Vinto

Refined tin production: 10,300 MT

Even after a nearly 15 percent decrease in production compared to 2021, Bolivian state-owned Empresa Metalúrgica Vinto remains on the top 10 tin producers list for 2022. The company receives and processes material from mining cooperatives, large- and small-scale miners and other companies that produce or sell tin concentrates. The Bolivian government nationalized the Vinto smelter in May 2010 and added four new furnaces with a combined capacity to process 1,000 MT per year of tin.

9. Thailand Smelting and Refining

Refined tin production: 9,500 MT

Founded in 1963, Thailand Smelting and Refining, better known as THAISARCO, is a private firm that manufactures tin, tin alloys and tin-related value-added products. In 2022, the company produced 9,500 MT of the metal, down 21.5 percent from 12,100 MT in the previous year. The company has been managed and operated by the UK’s Amalgamated Metal since 1995, and Amalgamated Metal is its largest shareholder.

10. Aurubis Beerse

Refined tin production: 8,200 MT

Belgium’s Aurubis Beerse produced 8,200 MT of tin in 2021, down from 9,800 MT in 2021. The private company operates a unique recycling and refining facility that processes secondary raw materials for the production of copper, tin, lead and nickel.

Aurubis is Europe’s largest tin producer and bills itself as a “zero waste producer.” The company also states that its tin ingots are “well known for the low level of lead content.”