Tin exporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have reached an agreement with the government on a new taxation system to end a six-week dispute that has halted exports from the main producing areas. Congo’s Finance Minister is expected to sign a joint ministerial order with Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu next week, which would fix export duty on tin at 5 % of the LME price, John Kanyoni, president of the Association of Exporters of Minerals of North Kivu, told Bloomberg today.
Of the 5%, 1% will remain with the province where the metal is produced, 3% will go to the Customs and Excise Department and 1% will be divided among other state services, Kanyoni said. Exporters in North and South Kivu provinces, which account for around 80% of national tin production, have stopped shipments since late June in protest at proposed tax increases, and were reported to have been holding some 2,500 tonnes of tin ore by the end of last week.
ITRI estimates that DR Congo produced 12,800 tonnes of tin-in-concentrate, or some 4% of world production, in 2007.