Peter Kettle, head of statistics for the Tin Technology Authority (ITRI), suggested that a crackdown initiated last October by the Indonesian government on smelters that allegedly purchase illegally mined tin was already benefiting the industry, albeit at the expense of packagers.

The price issue is particularly pertinent to the Asian food industry, which according to the ITRI is the fastest growing region in terms of demand for tin-plate packaging, rising by 8 per cent a year. The food industry is one of the largest purchasers of tin, used for packaging beverages, and canned products.

ITRI is an industry-sponsored organisation charged with investigating new technologies.

Kettle told AP-Foodtechnology.com that the food industry would need to back the country's legal tin mining activities so as to bring much needed regulation to the industry.

According to the ITRI, demand for tin-plate accounts for 18 per cent of total global supply for the metal.

Kettle explained that this growing demand, mixed with the country's abundant supply of the material and inexpensive mining equipment had resulted in wide scale illegal trading for tin.

Increased supplies of the metal through illegal mining has brought down the price of tin for processors, though the ITRI stresses that unregulated mining is ultimately detrimental to the entire industry by threatening long-term supply.

Environmental damage was seen as one of the main concerns resulting from unregulated tin mining, though injury and death for workers were also common as a result of the practice.

"In the long-run I think that producers of packaging, like users of many products, are concerned that their supply-chain is sustainable, safe and controlled by socially-responsible companies," Kettle said.

"They should therefore, like ITRI, support the efforts of the Indonesian government in trying to regulate the industry more closely."