80 Percent of Indonesia’s Tin Smuggled, Says Defense Minister

Indonesia’s Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told a public lecture at Hasanuddin University on 11 December 2025 that roughly 80 percent of the country’s tin output is smuggled abroad without paying taxes. He said the illicit trade has persisted for decades, allowing large quantities of the metal to leave the country unchecked.

The minister explained that after a crackdown in 1977, smuggling re‑emerged in 1998 and has continued, with only about 20 percent of mined tin managed by the state‑owned PT Timah between 1998 and September 2025. The smuggled tin is reportedly shipped to a nation lacking domestic reserves, which has now entered the top ten global tin exporters.

Because the exported tin is untaxed, the government loses substantial revenue; the minister estimated PT Timah’s annual earnings could rise from the current 1.3 trillion rupiah to as much as 25 trillion rupiah per year if the illicit flow were stopped. The defence ministry plans to tighten border and mining‑site monitoring to protect the country’s natural‑resource‑based economy.