POSITION OF THE TIN-CONSUMING COUNTRIES
Great Britain produces more tin than she consumes and is therefore in a position to dispose of tin to the rest of the world. From a study of import and export tables it seems that England consumes about 20,000 tons of tin a year and that she imports about 55,000 tons and therefore has 35,000 tons for export. She is in position through her large political and commercial control of tin deposits and smelters to practically dictate the world’s tin policy.
The Dutch colonies produce about 16 per cent. of the world’s tin, and as Holland is normally a very small consumer of tin, she has supplied a considerable part of the tin used in Germany and the United States.
Prior to the war a considerable tin-plate industry, dependent on foreign tin, was built up in southern Russia. The consumption was about 8,000 tons of tin a year, which was largely supplied by Great Britain, Holland, and Germany. If this industry is maintained Russia will still be under the necessity of importing considerable tin.
Tin users in Germany, who, before the war, apparently consumed about 22,000 tons of tin, must purchase all supplies from others. Before the war the principal supply of tin ore was Bolivia, and of metallic tin the Dutch East Indies. It seems reasonable that Germany’s supply of Bolivian ore may be curtailed in the future, as the United States is now in position to treat the ore, and freight rates should favor shipments of Bolivian barilla to the United States rather than to Germany. Whether the German tin-smelting industry will survive or not remains to be seen.
France has a small tin-smelting industry, treating about 1,500 tons a year. The apparent consumption is about 7,000 tons of tin a year, most of which was formerly imported from British India, England, and the Dutch East Indies.
The United States annually consumes over 80,000 tons of tin, including secondary metal, and produces from domestic ores about 100 tons. Prior to the war, metallic tin was obtained through England and Holland, as there were no tin smelters in this country. During the war there was established a tin-smelting industry, which is dependent entirely on foreign ore, most of which so far has come from Bolivia. The estimated capacity of tin smelters in America is about 18,000 tons a year or about 20 per cent. of the estimated yearly requirement. A combination of English, Bolivian and American capital is interested in one of these smelters, and also in Bolivian tin mines, and probably this smelter can be supplied. There is, however, considerable question whether the other smelters can obtain supplies of Bolivian ore. Certainly they will have competition from both English and German smelting concerns, which will be somewhat offset by cheaper freight to the United States than across the Atlantic. This difference is probably not large, and it would seem that if American smelters are to get Bolivian tin ore their charges must be low. A surer method of meeting their ore requirements would be to obtain financial control of enough ore deposits in Bolivia to supply the demand.
Evidently the United States must in the future, as in the past, import considerable quantities of tin from both Great Britain and Holland. It is to be hoped that the tin trade routes established during the war may be maintained and that American consumers will not have to pay the additional charges necessitated by Eastern tin going to Europe and back to the United States.