Daily inter mountain., 1900-01-13

controlled by very few, some of them
LOOK steps to guard against such a state
OF aHairs, and number of concerns who
had hitherto made competition for each
other consolidated, mainly with a view
TO being able to show a more power
1ui resistance to the producers. The
outcome ofall this is that the trade to-
oay, as compared with IL months ago, Is
OF an entirely different character, but
II VIII take some time to judge if the
change has been for the better or the
worse
Exports to Europe have been irregu-
lar, put In the fnnfn satisfactory; dur
ing the last few months the somewhat t
curious movement has been experienced
OF Chile bars stored in English ware
houses being shipped to the United States
rff1nerles for treatment by electrolysis,
wnile the refined copper is to be re-ex-
very clearly that our home refineries
are worked to considerably better advan.
tage than those in Europe.
Last December lake copper closed at
l3A and electrolytic at 13@131s, but quite
early IN January very active trade pre-.
vailed, and with simply enormous tram
sactions, during the entire month, prices
advanced almost from day to day, until,
Dy the end of the month. 18c for lake cop
per and ISM for electrolytic was firmly
established; and the month of February
did not remain far behind this phenom-
email record, bringing the price up to 1Sc
for lake and 17@17Ac for electrolytic.
March then brought slight reaction,
and prices for the month fell off about
nc. But this retrogressive movement
did not continue long, and April brought
prices up to the highest level estab-
llshed In January, especially values for
lake capper, 1S1sc being freely paid, and
in some instances sales were even made
at 19c, while electrolytic copper ruled
at 17A@17Ac.
Towards the end of May a slight cas-
ing off again took place and continued
decline Of H@Ac, but in July manu-
facturers found themselves compelled
again to enter the market and purchase
heavily. Besides, the Europeans, who
had for some time refrained from buy
ing to any extent in this market, were
at last forced to replenish their depleted
stocks.
Slowly, but steadily, values again ad-
vanced to 1SA for lake and 171s@17A for
electrolytic copper, which values were
firmly maintained during the summer
months, August and September, showing
hardly any change.
With the beginning Of October mat
ters changed. The outbreak of the war
between England and the Transvaal un-
balanced trade. Money rates advanced
oHu Tic udHk reserves became smaller
and smaller, all of which affected trade
in general unfavorably.
II Will have been noticed that between
lake copper and electrolytic rather wide
margin had been established, while form
erly the difference between the two de-
scriptions rarely exceeded nc. During
this year, however, the margin widened
to 1c and even 1Ac. or a little more. The
reasons for this are somewhat difficult
to explain, except that at certain time
earlier in the year lake was in specially
large demand, while orders for elec-
trolyttc copper, which is now being pro-
duced In enormous quantities, were more
eagerly competed for. Producers of lake
were evidently for some time under the
Impression that this difference could be
maintained, and, waiting for the trade
to approach them, they accumulated
some stocks, while electrolytic copper
was delivered to consumption as fast
as produced.
y. The first pressure, therefore, came from
Ihe producers OF lake copper, and when,
it was found that the largest producer
Of this description was ready to sell a
big quantity Of copper, consumers be-
came extremely shy, and negotiations
were pending for some weeks before a
large sale was consummated, which
proved then to be cut from 1872 down
to tic for delivery up to the end of March.
1900. with the condition that the sellins
company guarantees it's own price
against decline. This large reduction
startled the trade and come Of the small
er lake producers evidently were under
the impression that they might be able
to realize somewhat better prices, but
IN this they failed, and it was already
IN November that sales were made slight-
ly below that figure. Though electrolytic
copper did not decline in the same pro-
portion, sales were made at 16hc,