Tin settlement

Press, 24 February 1986, Page 20

Tin settlement

PA London A draft settlement to end the three-month-old halt in the world tin trade has been reached by producer and consumer nations and their creditors.

The breakthrough in the long disagreement among the 22-country International Tin Council (ITC) and creditor banks and brokers came early on Saturday after 10 hours of talks.

Negotiators for the ITC producers and consumers were putting the outline of the settlement to their Governments this weekend, and will be meeting again today to hear the result The deal, according to

ITC delegates, appeared to have at least a moderate chance of success.

The ITC, the industry’s cartel, suspended trading on October 24 last year after the London Metal Exchange said it had no more money to support artificially high prices.

The main obstacle to an agreement since then has been how much the ITC is prepared to put into a rescue package which would involve setting up a new company to take over its tin stock of about 85,000 tonnes. The tin would then be sold over a period of three years to prevent a collapse in prices. Brokers and bankers want the ITC to put up

£l2O million (5NZ316.8 million) towards the £270 million ($712.8 million) needed to launch the new company, to be known as Newco.

ITC negotiators went into Friday’s meeting sticking to an earlier offer of £lOO million ($264 million).

The deal is based on a plan put forward in December by a banker, Peter Graham, and a broker, Ralph Kestenbaum, who have been negotiating on behalf of the creditors. Kestenbaum has said he believes tin trading could resume one to two weeks after a settlement is agreed.