Tin smelter MSC production 'severely affected' until 2021-end

The Malaysian Smelting Corp (MSC) will only return to pre-pandemic smelting levels at the end of the year and will restrict its ore intake "both in respect of quantity and quality" in the coming months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company told suppliers this week.

In a note to suppliers sent on Monday April 26, MSC said that the pandemic had "severely affected" its smelting capacity and that it would have to take measures given the impact on its operations, without detailing how much production would be lost.
Three suppliers to the company independently verified the notification to Fastmarkets on April 28.
'We are no longer able to handle our usual feed materials until we have re-established pre-pandemic smelting capacity. This is expected to take about nine months, which will involve the rebricking of almost half of our furnaces,' it said. 

MSC did not respond to Fastmarkets' requests for comment, which were made outside Malaysian office...

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