Weekly journal-miner., 1917-03-21
COUNTRY FACES REAL FAMINE
 IN COPPER
NO SPOT METAL TO BE HAD AND AVAILABLE SUPPLY UP TO JULY RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING FROM THE MARKET.
(From Fridays Daily.)

tight position of nearby copper is
 still increasing, as available supplies up to July are fast disappearing from the market and consumers are readily
 taking the few offerings at steadily advancing prices. Sales of very small quantities of spot copper arc reported at 3Sc per pound The demand for third quarter metal is becoming larg- CT from day to day, while other de- livcries arc scarce and little can be done Prices at the close of the week for March elcctrolytic were nominal at from 36 to 1c, April at from 351E to 36c, second quarter at from 34H to 35c, third quarter at from 3 to 32Ac, and fourth quarter at from 30H to 3lc per pound.
 Added to the acutcncss of the situ- ation IS the labor strike at the Laurel Hill refinery of the Nichols Copper Company. which handles large part of the Phelps-Dodgc product There also goes through the Nichols refin- cry the Calumet & Arizona, Shattuck- Arizona, Granby and products of sim liar miscellaneous concerns.
 For months there has been an acute situation in copper with respect to available supplies for prompt ship ment. This was due primarily to the railroad congestion which halted prompt transportation of raw supplies from the mines to the smeltcrs and from the smeltcrs to the rclincrics. Later the Perth Amboy labor strike added to the conditions which now threaten to become even more serious, should the Nichols trouble continue
 Producers are not worried over the copper lost on steamers sunk cn route to Europe, for the simple reason that contracts covering 1917 deliveries have been made on the basis of pay ment for freight delivered alongside ship. On the other hand, they arc showing some concern over the fall ing of in February refinery yield which totalcd something like T0,000,- GOO pounds, compared with an csti- mated refinery output of 200000,00O pounds. Likewise, interest was shown as to whether the foreign govern ments will be compelled to replace i the tonnage lost, which from Dccem- Der lst to date is calculated at 60.000,- | GOO pounds, or whether in their pur- chascs they had figured on losing | some of the metal through such de struction. Most of the copper so lost was bound for France, while Russia | and Italy also suffered. On the 1910 l contracts producers sold on a eff basis and lost heavily, but the 1917 | contracts are all on fas. fasis | Therefore, the submarine activities | are not cause of worry 10 domestic consumers.
 Producers are expecting a large buying movement 10 begin during | this month, and inquiries from all ] quarters point to an unusually busy season. With the sizable tonnage | needed for our country's program, and with the Allied governments re- quircmcnts for second half metal, pro- ducers predict higher prices.
 If the needs of the Allies are as great this year as they were in 1916, then 2S5,0O0,0O0 pounds additional will have to be purchased hero and shipped abroad in the last six months of 1917. If domestic buying is on par with last year, this will mean the purchase of S33,000OOO pounds addi- tional for this country's consumption, making total of 2,3lS, ,5OO,OOO pounds to be sold this year, or Sl,S0,354 pounds less than the estimated 1917 refinery production of 2,400,000,000 pounds As refinery production has fallen short about 6O,OOO,OO0 pounds for the first two months Of the pres cnt year, and is still short of the re- quircd output, indications arc that there will be a scramble this month for second half delivery metal
 On the other hand, peace will bring copper demand for purposes other than war. It will mark the beginning Of reconstruction in inc devastated sections of Europe, and for this alone an immense quantity oi copper will be needed The large producers feel that not only will the price of the metal b. maintained at unusually high figures throughout 1917, but that 1918 production will command d relatively high price, ss compared with 1913 and l9li even ii hosllht.cs cease. II is evident that the prosperity of the