Tinplate (ETP) & Tin-Free Steel (TFS / ECCS) Coil and Sheet

Electrolytic tinplate and chromium-coated steel for cans, ends and closures

Tinplate is thin cold-rolled low-carbon steel, typically 0.12 to 0.49 mm, electrolytically coated with tin, and it is the substrate of food cans, aerosol cans, paint and general-line cans, crown corks and closures. It is bought on five things. Temper sets stiffness and formability: single-reduced (SR) tempers T-1 to T-5 (TS230 to TH415 in EN 10202 designations), batch or continuously annealed, and double-reduced (DR) tempers DR-7 to DR-9 (TH520 to TH620 and above), rolled a second time after annealing so a thinner, stronger sheet does the same job in can bodies and ends. Coating weight is the tin mass on each side in grams per square metre, such as 2.8/2.8, 5.6/5.6 or differential 5.6/2.8 with a marking on the heavier side, chosen against how aggressive the product inside is. Surface finish is bright, stone or matt; passivation (traditionally 311 cathodic dichromate, now increasingly chromium-free) and oil (DOS or ATBC) are specified because they govern lacquer and print adhesion. Dimensions are thickness, width and, for sheet, cut length, with coil ID and weight to fit the can maker's line. TFS, also called ECCS (electrolytic chromium coated steel), carries a thin layer of chromium metal and chromium oxide instead of tin; it takes lacquer and adhesive very well, cannot be soldered or welded like tinplate, and is used for can ends, crown corks, closures and two-piece drawn cans. The governing standards are EN 10202, ASTM A623 / A624 / A657 and JIS G3303 / G3315, which set thickness, temper and coating-weight tolerances, and the EN 10204 3.1 certificate reports temper (hardness HR30Tm), coating weights by side, thickness and passivation. Third-party inspection by SGS, Bureau Veritas or TÜV typically checks gauge, coating weight, surface and packing. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put tinplate under 0.5 mm (HS 7210.12) at USD 6.54 bn, led by China at 25.3%, Germany at 19.4%, the Netherlands at 12.3%, Japan at 6.4% and Korea at 6.1%, and chromium-coated steel (HS 7210.50) at USD 1.22 bn, led by China at 32.3%, Japan at 18.5%, Canada at 11.0% and Korea at 9.4%.

The buyers are food and beverage can makers, aerosol and general-line can makers, crown cork and closure makers, battery-jacket and component stampers, and the coil printers and lacquerers who supply them. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers tinplate and TFS from Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, German, Dutch, Indian and Turkish mills and their distributors to those buyers, against a certificate stating the country where the steel was melted and poured, and a food-contact declaration for the passivation and oil where the can maker's market requires one. Trade measures bite on tinplate too. The EU imposes anti-dumping duties on tinned flat-rolled steel from China under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1042, amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/843 in April 2026. From 1 July 2026 Regulation (EU) 2026/1384 replaced the EU steel safeguard with country-allocated annual tariff quotas and a 50% out-of-quota duty, and since 1 January 2026 the EU CBAM definitive period requires importers above 50 tonnes a year to be authorised CBAM declarants surrendering certificates for embedded emissions. In the United States the Section 232 proclamation effective 8 June 2026 applies 50% to articles entirely or almost entirely of steel, on full customs value, with partner-specific treatment for some origins; other markets apply their own measures by origin, so the buyer checks the rate for the mill at the discharge port before contracting. Coils and sheet packages are packed moisture-tight on wooden skids with VCI or waterproof paper, steel wrap and edge protection, eye-to-sky or eye-to-wall, and ship in 20-foot containers, the usual route for can-maker lots because tinplate is sensitive to condensation, with breakbulk for larger parcels. Terms are FOB, CFR, CIF and DAP, and tinplate is priced per metric tonne on temper, gauge and coating weight, often on annual or quarterly contracts with can makers, with the LME tin price as a reference for coating cost. Send your product (ETP or TFS), standard, temper, thickness and width, coil or sheet with cut length, coating weights by side, finish, passivation and oil, coil ID and weight, monthly tonnage and discharge port.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.