The age-herald., 1900-08-27
WEEKLY REVIEW
 OF IRON MARKET
Decided Improvement Noted in
 the Eastern Marts.
DEMAND IS MUCH STRON GER
Prices Hover Around the Low Water Mark, and But Few Sales Have Been Made by the Lo-
 cal Masters

Indications are not wanting of an im- provement in the iron market, though the improvement Is slight as yet. Several bids for large tonnage are said to have been received by local iron companies in the last week or two, but the price has not been satisfactory for which reason only few small sales have been made. No foundry In small lots was sold last week at $11 ton and No. for export at $10 net. It Is stated that a large tonnage could be dis posed of at these figures but the freight rates are so high as to be virtually prohib- itive, with iron selling at the figures named One of the prominent brokers In New York Is authority for the statement that Birmingham iron manufacturers have re- ceiyed bids for 65 GOO tons of iron since Au- gust l. but that only small portion or that amount was sold on account or the price offered, being too low.
 Reports from the north are to the effect that there has been marked improve ment in the demand for structural iron ana for the finished products of iron. The same reports indicate that it is only matter or a short time until the present stock Will have been exhausted. Should this report prove correct stocks will have to De re- plenished by purchases and this will cause a consequent stiffening of the iron mar ket.
 In the meantime stocks on the local fur- mace yards are increasing daily, and 1t IS now estimated that the yards in the DIT mineham district contain not less than lzo- 900 tons.
 Weekly Review
 e, Cn Cincinnati, their weekly circular on the iron market, is- sued Saturday, says:
 'aThe improvement noted at the close or mafket. It Is safe fo say that more iron has been sold during the past seven days than during the preceding thirty, and the tonnage under negotiation Is larger than at any time during the past six months. The activity Is in both domestic and for eien trade and liberal sales have been made for export at prices considerably higher than the lowest reported on this side. Of some grades of Southern iron, domestic sales have been made at 50 cents per ton above minimum prices that were named a week ago. If consumers who have been staying out of the market decide that this is the proper time to come in, 1t will
 
 making foundry iron during the remainder of the year.
 '.There is, of course, reserve of produc- tive capacity in the furnaces recently blown out that can be brought into serv- ice again so there will be no famine. One or two large buyers have been testing the market for delivery during the first six months of next year, but the majority of fha fn it. isfactory prices, saying that they will on- ly sell for early delivery believing that little later it will be possible to dispose of their output at profit Many of them claim that there is an actual loss on cur rent quotations
 New York etter
 The same company's New York letter deals almost exclusively with Alabama iron, and gives hopeful view of the sit uation. The letter is follows:
 ''The buying movement referred to in our last report has gained in volume, until ex- treme dullness is replaced by something like genuine activity. The orders placed during the week cover twenty thousand to twenty-five thousand tons of Alabama iron, twelve thousand to fifteen thousand tons of malleable pig and very considera- ble quantities of Northern coke iron It IS needless to say that prices were at the lowest
 "One significant fact however was brought out by the buying. While the larger furnace companies are willing to take limited amount of tonnage at very low figures to relieve the pressure, the mo- ment the pressure is relieved their prices stiffen up. Several thousand tons of offers on Alabama iron were refused this week at prices that were accepted last week, and prices demanded twenty-five to fifty cents per ton above the minimum. This is in line of the experience in some forms of manufactured iron and steel which touched bottom three weeks ago and have since moved upward The same thing has been true in copper, the fortunes of which gen. erally follow those of iron
 'Whether absolute and final bottom in pig iron has been reached, no one pretends to say. Makers, generally, believe 1t has, and buyers are convinced 1t has not. It is quite certain that buying at the rate of the last ten days can go on two weeks longer without starting the market upward, and 1t is equally certain that when the market starts uward there will be a rush of buy ing that has been withheld to get in at exactly the bottom notch. Altogether, the trade Is more hopeful than it has been since last winter
 "The export demand continues, but Is limited by the same causes that have re- stricted it for the year past, viz: lack of cheap ocean freights and of the particular grades of iron desired by foreign buyers"