ABSTRACT
Tin has been unique among minerals in being the subject of a fully-fledged intergovernmental commodity scheme since the 1930s. Intervention in the world tin market in one form or another goes back a long way, in fact to the early twenties. The history of the interwar intervention has been well documented. Instability on the tin market was very marked long before the First World War, but not outstandingly so compared with the markets for other non-ferrous metals. From the point of view of the governments of some consuming countries and of major industrial users, especially in the US, the prewar producers’ organization had the demerits of a cartel. The postwar agreements have always had a strong producer representation, with only a small part of non-communist world production outside their scope. Sharp differences of opinion over the buffer stock arose during the negotiations for the first postwar agreement.
