Bisbee daily review., 1907-08-18
DISAGREE ABOUT SUPPLY IF
 COPPER
Two Authorities Are Fifty Mill lion Pounds Apart in ESti- mates of Metal Immediately Available for Use.

CBy Geo. Walker in Boston Com mercial1
 Copper continues dull, but the large producers are holding prices firm not withstanding the declining quotations Of standard warrants in London and the combined efforts of certain specu-
 lative interests to bring about demor- alizatiOn in the trade. There is very
 little business being done at the mo-
 ment at any price. and it is safe to
 say that the leading producers will
 make no further reduction in nFasss
 until the large consumers come Into
 the market. Prices will then be ad-
 justed on a basis that will be satis-
 factory to both consumers and pro ducers. .
 The producers are believed 10 have
 less than a months production of cop
 per on hand. The monthly production of refined copper in the United States, i plus imports, in round numbers | amounts to about 100000, 900 pounds. | One producer states emphatically that | there is not now more than 50,0U0, 900 | pounds of copper immediately availa- ble in the hands of the producers and 1 consumers combined On the other ! hand, the consumers have not bought | any copper to speak of since early
 in March, a period of nearly five
 months having since elapsed. Some of the largest consumers admit that | their stocks of copper are almost en- i tirely exhausted, and that they will
 have to enter the market very soon. l At present the Lake producers are | holding their copper at 9 cents; 1 Phelps, Dodge & Co. aEd the United l Metals Selling company are maintain | ing their price of 21-3-4 to 22 cents | per pound for electrolytic copper | Small lots of copper are reported tu | have sold as low as 20 cents. but con- l fiTmatiOn of these sales seems to be | lacking.
 i One of the largest manufacturers of | copper wire and cables says: We are | just recovering our breath after the | greatest period of activity that We
 have ever experienced in the trade. and which practically carried us off our feet. There is a falling off in new business, but the outlook for the fu-
 ture is very good, and we are now
 doing what l would call a normal
 amount of business This let-up has
 allowed us to run little longer on
 Otl otltjilco OL GOplCi lldil NE Iicu expected, but our stocks of the metal
 are now nearly exhausted; however,
 We would like to see more settled con-
 ditiOns in the market before buying
 new copper.
 The stringency of money has. to our
 actual knowledge, delayed temporari- ly large consumption of copper in ' new electrical enterprises, and we find that nf r-b 1 in actual need of large amounts of
 wire and cables, are withholding o.
 ders, believing that there will be an , immediate decline in the price of cop
 Der, and they are resOrting to make shifts of patched cables and wires meanwhile. There is undoubtedly a 1, large volume of new business await 2 ing more settled conditions in the , metal market
 The copper market is in sound con- dition. notwithstanding the prognosti- 3 cations of calamity. Production this } year will be at least 5%o under that 7 of last year, and consumption, even 3 with falling off in new business up . to 2O%, will very nearly equal the . available supply of copper for this . year.
 Copper stocks have slumPed badly during the week, due in part to the general market conditions, but more to the continued uncertainty in the < metal market. With Amalgamated at s a new low price for the year, it is not surprising that the Boston cuppers , have displayed extreme weakness. Conditions are such that the public l is discouraged from buying coppers, even at the prevailing low prices. If cOppers had advanced with the price of copper, the present decline would have created less disturbance Per p sons who bought the coppers months 5 ago in anticipation of a good advance l with the higher prices for the metal ? have held on as long as possible, but , now that the stocks have dropped be- Q low their former prices, many of these
 holders have sold out in disgust. The copper stocks have not dis I counted the advance in copper, but q they appear about to oyer-discount
 a decline in copper. There is no ques- I, ton that the dividend paying coppers
 are selling extremely low at present, ? even though the price of the metal 2 should break considerably below the | present quotations.
 L Most of these stocks are selling k lower now than they sold when the 1 prico Of copper was Eo-er, ana Shen g they were paying mueh smallg3 oivi. ]. dsads. There is no reason to expect e that the dividends will be reduced to s- their former levels, and in num- r. Der of issues there is no reason td |. expect any dividend reduction at all. fl As soon as the metal situation is l. adjusted, at whatever price the cop ,- per stocks will recover, and believe 2 that they will show as much energy g on tie advance as on the decline y ----os.-.