The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-08-12 00:00:00

THE IRON TRADE.

WOLVERHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY.

Bar firms at the head of the list are in no less
activity than they were a week or a fortnight
ago. They report a steady arrival of orders by
post, which compensate for the iron which is
being sent away. Nor are the orders indicative
that Staffordshire bar-iron is becoming in less
repute for the excellence of its quality. On the
contrary, more is now being done for Govern-
ment than for some tinie past. Prices are
brought down by the competition which exists
amongst the bar firms who are not of the first,
class, and by the competition which South Staf-
fordshire makcrs experience also from other dis-
tricts. Bars of a fair quality might have been
had on 'Change this afternoon in great quanti-
ties, at from £7 to £7 155., and keen buyers
might have been successful in getting lots at
15s. The average price of stamping sheets
must be set down at £l6 10s., but there is a
cheaper quality to be had at .Zl5. The sheets
for which there is most demand, and which
comprise a great proportion of the product of
the Staffordshire mills, range from .0. for single
up to £9. ss. to 00. 10s. Plates were not in
grew, demand this afternoon. Nevertheless,
some of the commoner qualities are still going
in fair quantities to certain of the makers of
tanks and girders; but the larger consumers are
not buying with anything like freedom.
Staffordshire pig-iron makers assert that they
can effect sales on no terms which leave them
cven a moderate profit, and that they have to
cell in the majority of cases at aloss. All-mine
iron tapers down from 875.61. and 85s. to 903. ;
and cinder pigs are still upon offer at 50s. Hema-
tites were to be got at from 70s. to 71s. 6d. short
weight, delivered.
Coal is still almost a drug. To secure orders
from the railway companies, and from merchants
at a distance, the thick-coal firms, who mine 311
excellent quality, and easily get high prices,
have to submit to terms which have not certainly
prevailed for three years past. The prices which
are being accepted are within our knowledge,
but it would be hardly fair to quote them.

There is little improvement to report yet in
the condition of the local iron trade, and though
rather more orders have been distributed lately
on home account, chiefly for sheets, girders,
plates and bars, this increase is more than
counterbalanced by the falling off in the demand
for export, In a few cases the mills of the
more favoured firms are running about four days
a week, but the average occupation is rather
under than over lialf-time. Some interruption
of puddling has been caused this week by the
oppressive weather of the last few days, but in
the actual state of the trade little inconvenience
kas resulted either to producers or consumers
Prices for the better qualities both of raw and
finished iron are firm. the former at £4 5s to £4
103 for hot-blast native all-mine, and the latter
at £9 for marked bars. Inferior descriptions,
however, which are much affected by the com-
petition from other districts, are very weak and
irregular. Cinder pigs are nominally £2 155.,
but transactions are reported considerably below
that figure, and the recent minimum of -P7 for
unmarked bars has been passed in several in-
stances during the past fortnight. Even in
marked bars, however there is a good deal of
underselling, not necessarily by makers, but by
merchants, who- prefer to concede something in
brokerage rather than hold their stocks. Sheet
of good brands are steady, at from £lO to .€ll
but very fair sheet iron may be had for a little
over .E 9 per ton. Business in all departments
is described as being of a hand-to-mouth char-
acter. Consumers purchase only to meet im-
mediate requirements, and there is no disposition
to replenish stocks. Some speculative trans-
actions have lately taken place in pig-iron, which
is now reduced to a tempting level for those who
can afford to bide their market, but most of the
pig-iron going into consumption now in this dis-
trict comes from the North of England. Coal
is still in very limited demand for manufactur-
ing purposes, but orders for house coal are some-
what improving.