The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-23
Record Making Production Dur
 ing the Past Month
BIRMINGHAM NO. 2 S14,50
Buying Generally Is Quiet, But the Ap- proach of the Holidays Has No Effect on Consumption-A
 More Confident Tone.

The local iron situation is unchanged and quiet, No. 2 selling at s14.50.
 1 Rogers. Brown & Co.'S Cincinnati re- port of yesterdays date Is as follows;
 Again the pace at which production and consumption are proceeding Is evidenced | by the records reported for November. Production during that month was over two million tons, at the rate of twenty four and q quarter million tons per an- mum. In spite of this record-breaking output the surplus was taken care of and stocks on hand were reduced over eighty-three thousand tons during the month this in the face of adverse car conditions and with customers clamoring for additional shipments. Had the car situation been normal. stocks would prob ably have been reduced over one hun dred thousand tons
 Buying generally Is quiet. The approach of the holidays seems to have no re- stricton whatever on consumption, as the demand for raw material continues un- bated. All conditions favor the present rate of consumption and possibly an in- crease after the first of the year. Un- questionably. manufacturers will start 1908 with record breaking business ahead. and 1t is up to producers to meet condi- tons. If 1t were not for the tremendous output, there would be an alarming short age of pig iron at the present time. note which hitherto has been frequently sounded at this time of the year: namely, the request for delay in shipments on ac- count of holiday let-up, is absolutely lack ing and has given place to increased de- mands by buyers for anticipation on ord- CTS wherever possible.
 Generally speaking, there has been no change in prices, but there is more con- fident and firmer tone to the market at present figures than heretofore. Indepen- dent steel companies have recently pdr- chasd low phosphorus, standard Bessemer and basic iron, and upward of 250o0 tons of Pennsylvania and Virginia basic have been bought for first half of next year. There are now inquiries in the market for delivery of similar material during the second half. The steel corporation continues to be in the market for stan dard Bessemer, and the various pipe com panes have bought in moderate amounts, but the total footing up we'll. A remark able advance in Terror Manganese has been noted during the past few weeks. Possibly the most important feature of the week has been the continued pressure on mills for large tonnage orders which have been chroncled here from time to time. a number of contracts have been placed during the week, and others are coming out daily There seems to be no let-up to a demand which has been judged to have reached its high tide during the fall Rail orders approximat- ing 75,O00 to S0000 tons have been closed and other tonnage Is still under negotia- tion. So far during December 1t is esti- mated that contracts for structural steel will foot up 125,Ooo tons.
 | Coke continues strong with operators contending strenuously against the in- creasing car shortage and adverse wealth CT conditions, which are now in force. | For the next two weeks any tonnage | shipped is considered just that much good fortune as the annual holiday season by the labor class at mines and ovens becomes feature which operators have I long since surrendered to as one of the inevitable drawbacks of the business. | Matthew Addy & Co.'S Cincinnati letter | is as follows:
 Ordinarily at this time of the year there | ic lifl1 in flo | But this year, contrary to all prece-
 dent, pig iron sellers are finding them selves importuned for more and heavier | shipments. Apparently consumption has not begun to lag, and the business of the country is keeping up at the record
 rate. Of course the absence of genuine
 winter weather has been of wonderful help, for up to today outdoor operations 1 have not been seriously interferred with
 in any part of the country.
 l There has been a rather quiet time as | far as actual sales of pig iron are con- cerned but there Is a growing interest.
 and this week has seen transactions of considerable volume. Nearly all the con- | tracts have been for delivery over the | earlier months of the year. There Is still
 a very large quantity of pig iron to be
 bought. It Is probable that there will
 In the early months of 1906 be a decided | shortage in some directions. Stocks in l November were very decidedly reduced,
 and there is on hand nowhere any ap-
 preciable amount of pig iron. Iron ore and
 coke business during the week has been
 phenomenal There have been sales of
 great magnitude. and these sales mean
 that it Is going to cost great deal more
 to make pig iron next year than it has
 cost this year. The logical sequence is
 that prices necessarily will stay on a
 higher plane than In the past.
 In regard to present prices. they are
 as steady as the rock of Gibraltar. There
 are no concessions obtainabie anywhere
 in the market. It has been seldom that a year has closed that was more satisfac-
 tory in retrospect than the present veal =. .h,. ,,rop,icad more in the future