Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Steel and Tin

Tinplate, thin steel coated with a few grams of tin per square metre, ties the two metals in food and drink cans: it is a sizeable use for tin but a small one for steel, and chromium-coated steel and aluminium are steadily taking its place.

Steel (commodity) and Tin (commodity): 3 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Tin coats steel to make tinplate

Physical flow · Asymmetric · Tin → tinplate (coated steel)

Electrolytic tinning lays a thin tin layer on both sides of cold-rolled steel strip, giving a corrosion-resistant, food-safe surface for cans.

  • 1.12 to 11.2 g/m² tin coating mass, both sides, on Tata Steel electrolytic tinplate
  • about 11% tinplate share of world refined tin use, 2023 (ITA data)
  • 23% tinplate share of US tin use, 2024

The coating weight is chosen for the end use. Tin is the minor partner by weight, so tinplate matters a lot to tin demand but very little to total steel demand, which is driven by construction and machinery.

Sources: USGS; MiningVisuals; Tata Steel; Steel Market Development Institute

2. Price link: tinplate

Cost and price · Medium · Both ways

Tinplate makers buy both metals, but tinplate is too small a market to tie them closely; the shared movement comes mostly from the general industrial and inflation cycle.

  • 0.22 monthly change correlation
  • 0.66 12-month change correlation
  • 1.11 fitted elasticity

The US steel index follows tin only weakly month to month, but yearly changes correlate at 0.66, with tin leading by about two months. Treat this as a common cycle signal rather than a cost pass-through, since tin is a small part of the cost of tinplate.

Sources: Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)

3. Tin-free steel, aluminium and other packaging

Substitution · Medium · Chromium-coated steel and other materials replace tinplate

Can makers can avoid tin by using chromium-coated steel (tin-free steel) or switch to aluminium, glass, paper or plastic containers.

  • 5 to 35 mg/m² chromium oxide coating on Tata Steel tin-free steel
  • -7.5% change in world tin use in tinplate, 2022

Tin-free steel keeps the can in steel but removes tin, while aluminium and plastics remove both. ITA found tinplate the sector hardest hit by the 2022 downturn, with a further fall forecast for 2023, after a boost from canned food demand in the pandemic.

Sources: USGS; International Tin Association; Tata Steel; Steel Market Development Institute

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Tinplate is a meaningful use for tin, about a tenth of world demand, but negligible for steel, so the dependence runs one way.
  2. Substitution by tin-free steel and aluminium caps tinplate's share of tin demand, while solder, about half of world tin use, matters far more to the tin price.
  3. The yearly price correlation reflects a shared cycle, not a cost link, so it should not be used to hedge one metal with the other.

What to track

  • LME tin cash price: Sets coating cost and the incentive to move to tin-free steel (Daily · LME)
  • Tinplate use of tin in the ITA survey: Shows whether packaging demand for tin is shrinking (Yearly · International Tin Association)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. Indian tinplate demand rose after low-grade imports were stopped, so quality rules on imported tinplate shape domestic capacity decisions.
  2. Growth in canned food and drink raises tinplate demand, which adds far more to tin demand than to steel demand.
  3. Moving to tin-free steel or aluminium reduces exposure to a concentrated tin supply chain.

What to track

  • India tinplate production and imports: Self-sufficiency in can-grade steel (Monthly · Joint Plant Committee and DGCIS)
  • India refined tin imports: Exposure of tinplate and solder users to foreign supply (Monthly · DGCIS)

India

Tinplate Company of India (TCIL) had about 379,000 t a year of tinplate capacity at Jamshedpur in 2022 with a 300,000 t expansion planned, as demand from food and beverage packaging grew and low-grade tinplate imports were stopped.

Sources

  1. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Tin, USGS (2025)
  2. ITA study: macro pressure rolls back tin demand, International Tin Association (2023)
  3. Visualizing the breakdown of global refined tin usage (ITA data), MiningVisuals (2024)
  4. Tinplate product brochure, Tata Steel (2024)
  5. The tinplate production process, Steel Market Development Institute (2024)
  6. Tinplate to expand capacity by 3 lakh tonne, Construction World (2022)
  7. Price correlation, Material Insights, Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)