New-York tribune., 1918-09-17
Product Prices Rise
All Over the World
Imports at New York Show
Advances This Year
Over Last

Prices in general continue to ad-
vance and are now higher on an aver
age than they were last year. This
is apparently true all over the world,
and the main reason is the extent to
which production Of staples and al
most all other materials and goods
has been curtailed by war compla-
ton by the National City Bank of New
York, based upon the average import
prices in the fiscal year 1918 of large
number of articles representing pro-
auction in every quarter of the globe,
shows prices exceeding those Of 1917,
when prices in turn were higher than
in the 1916, 1915 and 1914 fiscal years.
In nearly all of the important ar
ticles imported 1913 average price
figures stand at the top Of the ascend
ing scale of prices dating from 1914.
Take wool as an example, of which
the imports are drawn from more than
a score of countries and representing
every grand division of the world; of
clothing wool, the average import
PAiNS III 1"1o was OF CcuCS per pouHu,
against SO cents per pound in 1917, %
cents per pound in 1916 and % cents
per pound in 1915. Combing wool
averaged in 1918 81 cents per pound
against 80 cents per pound in 1917,
20 cents per pound in 1916 and 25
cents per pound in 1915. Carpet wool
averaged in 1913 40 cents per pound,
against 29 cents in 1917, 20 cents per
pound in 1916 and II cents pere pound
in 1915 and 1914.
In copper, OF which the imports
were drawn from dozen different
countries representing Europe, North
and South America, Asia and Africa,
the average price Of the importation
Ct 1918 in the form of pigs, ingots,
ETC., was 1852 cents per pound, against
1914 cents per pound in 1916 and 1874
cents per pound in 1915, being thus
practically doubled in the four-year
period. Raw silk, representing every
silk producing area Of the world, aver
$4.61 per pound in 1917, $3.61 per
pound in 1916 and $500 per pound in
1915.
Raw sugar averaged in 1918 4S cents
pound, against 4.3 cents pound in
1917, 81 cents a pound in 1916, 3.2
cents d pound in 1915 and cents
pound in 1914. Tin, drawn from every
available tin producing area of the
world, averaged in the fiscal year 1918
o4.6 cents pound, against 40 cents
pound in 1917, 35.3 cents in 1916 and
32.4 cents in 1915. Mackerel, of which
the imports of 1918 were 100000
in 1918, against 1898 cents a pound in
1914. Cheese. drawn from Canada,
Mexico, the West Indian Islands, Ar
gentna, Australia, French Africa and
half dozen European countries, aver
aged in 1918 41.6 cents pound,
against 30.8 cents in 1917, 23.5 cents
in 1916 and 1913 cents in 1914.
Goat skins, imported from a score Of
countries, averaged Ala cents pound
in 1913, against 1852 cents a pound in
1914. Cotton cloths, drawn from Great
Britain, France, Switzerland, The
Netherlands and Japan, were much
higher, the average price of the un
bleached being in 1918 25.7 cents a
yard against 9.5 cents a yard in 1916.
while the figures for the month of
February, 1913, were still higher than
those of the full year, averaging for
that month 49.9 cents yard, against
the annual average of 25.7 cents a
yard. Pig iron shows for 1918 an aver
age of Sl19.42 ton, against S35S7 a
ton in 1914, and bar iron in 1918 5.3
cents pound against an average of
10 cents pound in 1915. Manila
hemp averaged in 1918 $3.50 a ton,
against $3.50 ton in 1915, and flax in
1918 S1,037.71 ton, against $290.37 in
1914.
In few articles-very few-prices
arc lower. The average import price of
the coffee brought into the country in
1918, and representing all the coffee
producing sections of the world, was 9
cents a pound, against Ill cents
pound in 1914. Tobacco suitable for
cigar wrappers was S1.21 pound in
1918, against $1.28 pound in 1914,
while potatoes imported in June, 1918,
averaged S1.02 bushel, against 1927
a bushel in June, 1917.
All of the above are, it should be
remembered, the wholesale prices Of
the articles in the country from which
exported to the United States.