New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-09-26
Steel and Pig
Iron Markets
The Ironage says today:


Price fixing for the fourth quarter
| as announced from Washington Tues
day, brought some surprises as to de-
tails but not as to two features, an ad-
ing basic and foundry pig iron
and a refusal to make any advance
on finished steel products.
Lake Superior iron ore producers
| asked for soc. more and were granted
25c., on the ground that the 45c. ad-
vance given them three months 40
was all absorbed in higher ran
! freights. Eastern iron ore producers
| had expectations of sharing in the
ore advance, but this was denied
them and all other ore producers
outside the Lake districts.
BY adopting Birmingham and Pitts
burgh as pig iron basing points, ad-
Vancing basic and foundry irons 81 a
ton, and limiting the Pittsburgh bas-
ing to furnaces north of the Potomac
and east of the Alleghenies the Price
Fixing Committee relieved the pinch
that has been on the smaller blast
furnaces in Virginia, Tennessee and
eastern Pennsylvania. All basic and
foundry iron furnaces get the benefit
of the 81 advance. For Tennessee
furnaces the advance ranges from
$1.25 to $1.75. Virginia furnaces and
those in eastern Pennsylvania fare
considerably better because of greater
distance from the basing point.
The chief disappointment in the
price decisions is that of the class 8
steel companies, which buy basic pig
iron in the market. They must now
pay more for their raw material,
while their urgent appeals of the past
six months for higher prices on their
finished product are still denied.
Most of the blast furnaces using
Lake Superior ores really get only
soc. advance out of the ST added to
basic and foundry iron prices, as the
other half is taken UP by the ore
producer on all ore shipped after
Oct. 1.
The Pittsburgh and Birmingham
basings do not apply to low phosphor-
us and charcoal iron. These will sell
as heretofore on an f. o. b. furnace
basis regardless of the location Of the
furnace.
The general committee Of the Iron
and Steel Institute has promptly put
out new price tables based on the
Presidents proclamation as to pig
iron. Differentials on foundry and
higher silicon irons are raised; cast
iron pipe is put up IS; cut nails and
horse shoes are advanced, and various
other revisions are made.
Jobbers are put under stricter re-
gulation by the new rulings, maxi
mum warehouse prices being now
fixed on a considerable list of iron and
steel products on which the jobbers
have been naming their own prices.
The new schedule makes sharp cuts
in prevailing jobbers' margins on
some of these.
An epochal development in the
labor situation are the announcements
by the Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co.
and the Lukens Steel Co. of plans
for employee representation and col
leCtive bargaining. There are indica-
lions that measures of conference
and Cancellation may be adopted by
other steel companies and that these
will have large results not only in
meeting war problems but those of
the later period of reimbursement.
Further purchases of motor trucks
now considered by the Government
will require 100000 to 100000 tons of
iron and stefan item which is an
OLlGE SluCIlSAL OH Inc increasing SCALE
of the war program.
Export procedure in steel may be
simplifed. The War Trade Board
will probably be allocated kinds and
amounts of steel against which it
will issue export permits. Only the
shortage of material will interfere
with general export trade so greatly
has vessel space been exceeding recent
demands for it.
A new inquiry from the French
Government is for 20, 900 tons of rails,
ranging from 81 lb. to 92.7 Id. With
these are wanted 100000 screw
spikes.
Steel rail prices may be announced
this week, and there is still some
ground for expecting a $57 basis for
open earth and So less for Bessemer.
The ,semi-steel projectile program of
the next eight months now calls for
an output equalling if not exceeding
The extent to which this will relieve
the steel situation, in case $50 or
more foundries can be enlisted, de-
ponds on the amount of merchant
foundry iron which may be put to
this use. Another proposed means of
expanding the steel supply is to send
shell discard steel to wire mills, the
increased need of wire being an offset
to the difficulties of drawing steel or
shell composition.