LME tin cash premium spikes to $670/t as inventory squeeze deepens

The signal here is not the headline premium but the shape of the curve: a cash-to-three-month spread at its widest since 2023 points to genuine nearby tightness rather than a broad repricing, and the explicit comparison to 2021 sets the scale — this is a squeeze, not yet a regime. Physical users needing prompt tin are the ones absorbing the cost, while holders of the benchmark contract are insulated. Whether the backwardation widens toward the 2021 precedent or unwinds as material is drawn out is the open question; the spread itself is the indicator to track.