New Britain herald., 1920-01-01
FINANCIAL
PIG IRON AND
 STEEL MARKETS
The Iron A ge says:

ih'- - o'i -a SO soy
 Iron and steel markets are more active than is common at the open ill 3 Of new year. Pittsburgh in particu- lar reporting sustained demand for pig iron. semi-finished steel and fn- ished products. The mills are carry ing over large tonnages into 1220- so large in certain lines as 10 pre- clude new business for many weeks.
 Ordinarily new works under COP Struction are an important factor in the outlook for new year. Today. with production so far below ca nt+ city, more steel plants would not help Not since the opening of 1911 have so few new steel furna ces been under construction as are reported by the industry. Our summary shows that nine new open-hearth furnaces were completed in 1919 capable of produc- Ing 62o,0o0 tons a wear. Today 22 are under construction with annual capacity of S15,000 tons. In the four war years beginning January 1. 19lS. no less than 1400o,000 tons were added to the countrys open hearth steel capacity by new construction.
 Though for several years new pig iron capacity has not been built 10 keep pace with the increase in steel
 
 completed in 1919 and only four. with total annual capacity of 100000 tons, are now under construction.
 With so little prospect of increa ased output from rolling mills. the expect cd demand for steel from the rail- roads raises a problem, as the mills will scarcely put aside orders long on their books to give the railroads tile early deliveries many of them will want.
 Negotiations over rail purchases. involving all told probably 100000 tons. but at that below normal re- quirements, have been held up by the extensions for two months of government control. Efforts are now centered in financing the innl ediate needs of some of the main lines. At Chicago some definite. orders have been placed. including 55.O00 tons for the Burlington. of which 35.00O tons go to South Chicago and 10000 tons 10 Colorado. The Rock Island is cx- pected to close shortly for 10000 tons and the Illinois Central for 20,- 900 tons. Large amounts of track faSteningS are wanted. one Western road calling for l7.O0O kegs of spikes and 5000 kegs of bolts.
 There is a division of sentiment as to the course of prices, represented in the pig iron trade by those who deprecatC a further advance for it's consequences in higher wages and higher ore, and. working in the other direction. it's effects in higher steel. It is pointed out, however, that with tho short supply of labor at finishing mills some of the steel companies will be able for some time to do bet ter as producers of pig iron than as producers of finished product. That would tend to ease the situation in pig iron.
 The shortage in semi-finiShed steel has been emphasized by the shipment of sheet bars from the Chicago district and from Duluth to the Pittsburgh district, where the leading producer had 95 per cent. operation of hot sheet mills early in the week. -tt Cleveland considerable sales of sheet bars for the first quarter were made at $o1 and of slabs at $50.
 The pig iron ma rket shows less ac- tivity in some centers, notably New York and Chicago, but buyers have been persistent in other places, espe- cially in the Philadelphia and Pitts burgh districts, in trying to place or ders. A leading electrical interest is in the market for 3.000 tons of foun- dry and malleable for first half. and in Chicago a consumer of basic is in Quirine' for from 20,0O0 to 30.O00 tons for first half delivery. A very limited tonnage has been sold for third quar- ter and last half of 1920 as som eWhat lower prices than for the first half of i bp