OCR Text |
Show STOCKS OF COPPER SHOWING INCREASE Viewed from Its broadest aspects, it is conservative opinion that at the present time the production of copper from American Ameri-can refineries exceeds domestic consumption consump-tion plus exports by from 20,000,000 to 30,-000,000 30,-000,000 pounds per month, says the Boston Bos-ton News Bureau. The American refinery output for a series of years has been as follows (in pounds) : Average per month. 1914 1,493.000.000 124,500,0i90 1913 1,622,450.000 135,204,000 1912 3 ,581,92-0.000 131,826.000 1911 1,431,938,000 119,328,000 1910 1,462,122,000 121,010,000 "Estimated, as Copper Producers" association asso-ciation discontinued its statistics In July, 1914. WBth Kennecott In Alaska, Chile in South America and Inspiration in Arizona easilv contributing or soon to contributein contrib-utein all 'at the rate of 150,000,000 pounds of new annual output, and with ail the older producers, big and little, straining their utmost to get out a maximum maxi-mum production, it is well within reason to place the, current output on this hemisphere at 250,000.000 pounds per annum an-num in excess of 1 913 the last normal yearly period. This figuring- places the 1915 output at the rate of, say, 1,850,000,000 pounds, or about 154,000,000 pounds per month. Conservative nterests in the trade, after careful investigation, place the American consumption of copper at the present time at 100,000,000 pounds per month. This figure compares with 64,000,000 pounds per month in 1913 and 68,000,000 pounds in 1912, and reflects the extraordinary melting melt-ing of copper by the war material makers. But exports have naturally fallen away below normal and this is why we are accumulating ac-cumulating copper today. At the present time our exports are not much, if anything, any-thing, above 15,000 tons, or. say, 30,000,-000 30,000,-000 pounds per month, or less than 50 per cent of normal. The following summarizes the situation figured on a monthly basis : Production 154,000,000 Domestic consump- tion 100,000,000 Exports 30,000,000130,000,000 Excess production 24.000.000 The buying of copper during the past sixty or ninety days has been relatively small, although during the past week between be-tween 30.000,000 and 40,000,000 pounds have been taken at close to IS cents per pound, and very heavy deferred buying from American manufacturers is expected any day. We hear that one of the largest American Amer-ican consumers is not covered beyond September 30. and it would not be surprising sur-prising if within the next thirty days contracts con-tracts were taken for between 100.000.000 and 200,000,000 pounds. This business may have favorable reflection in the stock market. If the production is found to be expanding ex-panding too rapidly, we venture the prediction pre-diction that the output will be substantially substan-tially curtailed. We are approaching the winter season, when costs are generally higher than during the summer months, and this will probably be the time when the big producers will decide to shorten up on the output, if helpful. |