RPT-PT Timah resumes tin ingot exports again

(Repeat of story published late on Tuesday)

JAKARTA Oct 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia's state-owned PT Timah , the world's largest integrated tin miner, has started to again export tin ingot -- breaking a stoppage agreed by smelters last month, an official said on Tuesday.

Since Oct. 1, Indonesian tin smelters in Bangka island, have put in place a self-imposed export ban, with the aim of pushing prices above $25,000 a tonne.

At the time, industry analysts questioned whether the stoppage would last long enough to support prices.

"We have started to export," Timah Corporate Secretary Abrun Abubakar told Reuters. "$24,000 is confirmed for us but we hope maybe, for more than $25,000.

"We must export our product because we have commitment with our customers but I don't know about the other players."

London Metal Exchange tin hit a record high above $33,000 a tonne in April, but like other base metals, has since slumped as the global economic and demand outlook became increasingly uncertain.

Tin, mainly used in solders for electronics, traded at $22,300 at 1234 GMT and has gained around 20 percent since the export stoppage was announced on Sept 26.

A crackdown on illegal mining, tighter export rules, falling onshore reserves and rain that had hindered production in Indonesia, which supplies about 30 percent of the world's tin consumption, helped drive the tin rally earlier this year.

Last week, Johan Murod, general secretary of Indonesia's Tin Industry Association, said he expected the full export stoppage to last for one month before prices go above the $25,000 a tonne level demanded by smelters.

"My group is committed (to) stop exports until $25,000," Murod, who is also director of Bangka-Belitung Timah Sejahtera, which groups five private tin smelters on Bangka island, told Reuters. "For us, stopping exports (is) the way to success."

Bangka, off Sumatra's east coast, is the world's top tin-producing area.

Indonesia, the world's second-largest producer of the metal after China, has a track record of supply issues that often impact prices.

In early August, the association said police carrying out an environmental crackdown in Bangka were hindering domestic smelters' supplies. (Reporting by Michael Taylor; Editing by William Hardy)