Hello AJ,
The previous answers are correct; Sn has seen a spike in price ever since RoHs was implemented. Furthermore, the other alloys that have been used to replace Pb (because of RoHs) have also seen an increase in price. Sadly these material replacements already had a high price tag to begin with (Silver, Copper, Gold, etc...)�
However, I think you are more interested in a cost effective solution then an explaination of what you already know.
Your best bet to reduce cost is going to be related completely to the type of volume your company consumes for SAC0307. If you put together a blanket purchase order for 3-6 months, the volume increase will lower your pricing significantly (But, maybe not as much as you would like to see).
Another word of advice would be to purchase solder from a company that has the patent to the alloy configuration you are looking for, or one very similar (i.e. SAC0307, SAC0308); Or purchase from the supplier that ships the highest volume per month for that specific alloy or another that could be used in it's place(usually the same as the owner of the patent)..
Take a look at
www.senju.com
Senju provides SAC0307 bar and ships high volumes of SAC0307 as well as SAC305 solder bar. If your volume is over 1000Kg typically, Senju has very competitive pricing.
However, if you are looking for a very small volume of solder bar, this is very difficult to price well. Lead-Free solder bar alloy is already priced very high, and since it is made in batches from raw metal ore, it is very time consuming to manufacturer (typically small orders are considered more costly then profitable).
Companies that provide low volumes of solder bar typically do not warranty their product because the bar has been sitting in inventory/warehousing and has gone through various oxidation cycles. But depending on the product, high reliability may not be as necessary�
latest pricing I saw for SAC0307 solder bar at 1000Kg was around $30-40/Kg�
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