ABSTRACT
In 1942, for instance, world tin production fell to less than half of its 1941 level and output remained sluggish throughout the War. In this context, the International Tin Committee in September 1942 abandoned what production controls remained. In the early 1980s, the Agreement was thus subject to as great a challenge as it had been at any other time in the course of its history. A consideration of international controls on tin since the 1920s reveals a number of recurrent themes. For, despite their broad scope and broadening compass, the agreements concentrated in practice on short-term pricing objectives and made little attempt to deal with the structural problems outlined in the first part of this chapter despite their importance for long-term price movements. Although US policy offers the most outstanding example of the impact of national policies on tin, the USSR provides a second vivid illustration.
