LONDON — Tin prices are slipping — slightly — on the London Metal Exchange after matching an 18-year high of $15,700 a ton last week. Supplies of the metal, a key element in electronics solder and plating, have been under pressure due to disruptions in Indonesia and Bolivia.

Indonesia tin production is expected to fall roughly 30% this year, according to the tin trade group ITRI, following a government crackdown on illegal mining last fall.

Indonesia is the world's second-largest tin producer, after China.
 
Copper prices are also dipping as inventories rose to their highest point in a month.

China, the world's largest user, imported 6.8% less copper in June versus May. However, strikes in Montreal and Chile at two of the world's four largest copper producers have slowed production and refining operations.