Tin is in the grips of one of the longest-running squeezes ever seen in commodities markets, and there’s little sign of it letting up. A relatively small market — used mainly for soldering in electronics — tin is often overshadowed by metals like copper and aluminum that are more widely used in manufacturing, infrastructure and the green-energy transition.
This year, though, tin has been red hot. Demand is booming and supply is sputtering, creating a chronic shortage of metal that’s been exacerbated by global logistics snarl-ups.
Tin has surged more than 90% to all-time highs on the London Metal Exchange, while near-dated contracts have been trading above futures for almost an entire year on the LME, in a condition known as backwardation that’s a hallmark sign that spot demand is exceeding supply.
Front-month LME tin prices have now been trading at a premium to the second-month contract for more than 250 consecutive trading days, the longest-running backwardation in at least 24 years, according to data analyzed by Bloomberg.
For the rest of this article: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/a-new-commodity-squeeze-could-soon-rival-lumber-s-recent-historic-shortage-1.1689561