OCR Text |
Show DEMAND FDR COPPER 15 GROWING HEAVIER Authorities Are Predicting Higher Prices Due to Increased In-creased Foreign Inquiry. Growing demand for copper ami shortage short-age of supplies for the balam'fi of t'.s year have combined to advance prices, with every hid lot lion that the si mat Ion cannot ho materially improved hefure the beginning of 1117. November tales of electrolytic at CS'i cents and an advance In asking; price for December to iSu cents picture graphically the week-end copper situation, says tho Boston News Bureau. The foreign requirements, already known and "in the air," In the aggregate constitute an enormous tonnage. Alter having abandoned effurts to secure a fixed amount of the metal for next year's te. hvcry i.io. Out) tons for the first half of "!17 representatives of Great liriiuinand alliM nation have leen tiuyii; lifavily of copper and brass products. a", id manufacturers manu-facturers of those finished k-o;1h have In turn bought froely of raw supplies. The combination has been the determining factor fac-tor In effecting higher prices. During midsummer the highest copper prices of recent years were established, with salen of small quantities of electrolytic electro-lytic at 31 H cents a pound. That this flKure may he equaled, and possibly exceeds, ex-ceeds, in quite likely, according to producers, pro-ducers, who pin their faith to a continued record-breaking demand for copper from both home and foreign consumers. Foreign governments now want cop- per and will tak(5 as much as they can secure for forward deliveries. They desire de-sire to conduct their copper buying as qulfitiy as possible, and an a result will probably make their contracts for quantities quan-tities in varying amounts, but sufficiently sufficient-ly large In the aggregate to meet the requirements re-quirements of their own plants now busily engaged In turning out munitions. f ha September rellnary production is not expected to show much, if anv improvement im-provement ovflr the August estimate of between I5rt.00u.000 and 160.000,000 pounds: but in October, provided no labor la-bor disturbances intervene, a substantial recovery should be made. Bv December At the latest refineries should be up to their recently demonstrated capacity of MO.000,000 pounds a month. CapacU ot |