The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-10
PRODUCTION OF
COPPER EXCEEDS
HALF A BILLION

The production Of copper In the
United States in, 1916 surpassed al
previous records, according to the
United States Geological Survey De-
partrnent of the Interior. At an av-
erage price of about u cents a pound
the output for i 916 has value OF
$500, 600, 900, compared with s242'-
100000 for the output for 1919 ana
with $189,790,0O0 in 1913. -
The figures showing smelter produc-
ton from domestic ores represent the
actual production of Most of the com
panies for II months and an estimate
of the output for December Inc
figures of a few companies for Novem-
Der were not available, and these com
panies furnished estimates for the last
two months of the year.
According to the statistics and estl-
mates received, the output of blister
and<Lake copper from domestic ores
was 1,92S,O0O,000 pounds in 1916,
against 1883, 100000 pounds in 1919
and 1,224,O0O,00O pounds in 1913. (
The output of refined copper (elec-
trolvtic Lake, casting, and pig) from
! primary sources, domestic and foreign
for 1916, is estimated at 2,3ll, OoV,ooo
mounds compared with 1,615,OOO,OOO
pounds in 1918.
The production of copper from the
A1nineS of the United States for 19lo
was more than double that of 10 years
ago and more than four times that OF
20 years ago. The profit resulting
from the domestic production was rar
greater in 1915 than in any previous
year. 1t is probably, safe to say that
1t exceeded $300,000,O00.
! According to the Bureau OF Foreign
and Domestic Commerce, the imports
of all forms of ctured cop
Eper for the first 10 months of 1916
amounted to 397,594,0O0 pounds. This
compares with an import Of 265,677,-
600 pounds for the first 10 months of
1915. The imports for the, II months
of 1915 were 315,698,449 pounds.
The exports OF pigs, ingots. bars,
plates, sheets, rods wire etc. for the
first 10 months of 1915 as determined
by the Bureau of Foreign and Domes-
ttic Commerce, amounted to 655,472,-
0o0 pounds, compared with an export
for the first O months of.1915 of 529,-
2S6,O00 pounds. The exports for
the IL months of 1915 were 6S1,917,-
10
900 pounds.
At the beginning of 1916 there was
about S2,40O,000 pounds of refined
copper in stock in the United States
This quantity added to the refinery
production gives total available sup
ply of about 2,393,000,O00 pounds of
refined copper. On subtracting from
this amount the exports for the first 0
months and the estimated export for
the last Z months, it is apparent that
the supply available for domestic
consumption is materially greater than
the /, 043, 100000 pounds of 1915. no
account being taken of.stocks held at
the close Of the year.
Higher Prices in 1916.
The average price of copper for
1916 showed a marked increase over
that Of the preceding year, being
slightly above II cents pound. COM
pared with IVA cents in 1915.
Much of the copper was sold sever
al weeks or months in advance of de-
livery, and it is therefore probable
that the ACTUAL average price received
differs somewhat from the average of
the daily Quotations for immediate de-
livery The general trend of the mar
ket would indicate that the actual
price received may be below that in
Dictated by the average of quotations.