The New York herald., 1921-07-24
DEMAND FOR STEEL
SHOWS SLIGHT GAIN
Improvement Said to Indicate
Turn in Market Is About
to Manifest Itself.
DISTRIBUTION is WIDER
Buyers Disposed to Look for
Further Price Cuts-Pig
Iron Still Dull.

lTOIl SIlll Dulls
Special Despatch to TIE NEW YORK HERALD
PrrrsRuRoH, July 23.--There has beer
= slight Improvement in demand for stee
products In the last week. which seem!
market is about to manifest itself. 1t 1.
pointed out that there has been no fur
ther decrease In the demand on the MILL
u tia last two or three weeks In tn,
caDe OF sheets and mrchant steel bar.
there Is distinct increase In orders ant
dc0tions. not large In point of ton
mage but marked by a much wider dis
fr1but1on geographically and among
classes OF consumers. In steel product.
a. a whole there Is larger volume Of
inquiry. The turn may be set as having
occurred approximately in the middle o,
July. The precedent of July and Angus,
being completely dull months in the stee
industry seems to be broken, but from
another viewpoint it can be said that the
midsummer dulness came a month ahead
of time. being marked at the beginning
OF June, and has thus spent its force.
II cannot be said that the steel buyers
are particularly well satisfied with
prices. Those who comment on market
conditions have been apt to remark o1
every decline In prices that it was not
the final one, and therefore buyers have
been disposed to look for another ever
when 1t seemed almost impossible to put
the prices further down. The probability
Is that commodity prices in general will
trend downward for several years. as the
market Is rather wide open. every In
quiry of Importance drawing a quotation
IN relation to the desirability of the
order. Buyers at this time are those
who cannot wait, and in most cases are
given unprecedentedly prompt shipments
Increases In mill demand are to be at
tributed chiefly to liquidation of stocks
Of steel and manufactured wares rather
than to increase In Industrial activity
generally.
The pig iron market shows no I'm
provement. being very dull. Prices tend
TO sag further on much the same prin.
ciple that has obtained in recent monthsA
that every inquiry of Importance brings
out a price a little lower than that OF
the last important transaction. Basic
iron. which has sold at $50. valley. two
or three weeks ago. then at $3.50. is
being offered at s1s. valley, making It
the quotable market. No decline in coke
LHdL cOulu put the COST OF iron
below $19 Is expected. Bessemer iron
has been offered at s20.50. valley. or a
dollar below the nominal quotation of a
week ago, while on some small sales
foundry iron has declined SO cents to
$2050.
Coke Market Is Erratic.
Tho spot furnace coke market is
erratic. sales being made of various
grades Of coke. chiefly Indifferent in
quality and the prices in keeping with
the quality ranging from s2.75 to So
There is little reason to believe that any
coke sold at less than SO is really good
standard furnace coke such as would be
acceptable to the average blast furnace
In times like these. when they can be
particular about the kind OF coke they
accept just as they find their customers
can be particular about the kind of pig
iron that they accept. Demand fol
foundry coke for spot shipment has i'm
proved notably In the last week, al
though II Is not large, but 1t shows a
better condition Of the market, which
was very dull during the preceding two
or three weeks. The increase In foundry
coke demand has not advanced prices
but II has stiffened them to the extent
at least of preventing any further de-
cline. and foundry coke Is e,sily dollar
a ton above furnace coke. a decidedly
good showing for dull times. The mar
ket In general is quotable as follows
Spot furnace. S3@3.25: contract furnace
9S@3.25. and spot foundry s4@450.
There Is not much activity in semi
finished lines. except possibly in shee,
bara A Cumberland. Nd, firm is re-
ported to have closed on approximately
1000 tons with a producer east OF
Pittsburgh at about s33 mill. On that
inquiry as we'll as on an inquiry OF SOC
tons out OF Cleveland local sheet bar
producers quoted s35 Pittsburgh, thai
quotation being made on the 1000 tons
asked by q Canton, Ohio. consumer. Sc
far as reported no inquiries for re-
rolling billets. forging billets or slab,
are current, and the market prices oi
$40. $38 and s34 respectively are prac.
tically untested. The same is true oi
wire rods, which are being UNIVERSAL,
quoted at $42.
More sheet specifications are comins
from diversified lines of consumption
including automotive. electrical ant
building construction. The leading in.
terest Is able to increase It's schedule.
about per cent. from those of the pre-.
ceding week, starting up additional sheet
mills. With the iron and steel busines,
generally on S5 per cent basis Il 1.
strange that most current sheet buying
ID from automotive quarters, but speci.
fications seem to be confined to auto
mobile manufacturers whose product Is
selling for $500 or lower The latter
are maintaining average operations Of
better than SIS per cent. OF capacity. The
prices which became effective on July
are being held on production sheets, 2.6s
cents for blue annealed. $50 cents FOL
black and $50 cents for galvanized. al
though some mills are circularizing GER
tain stock sheets and offering prices o'
3.25 cents and 4.25 cents on black and
galvanized respectively. one price of
cents on galvanized has been met on at
tractive sizes. There have been som,
concessions offered on black sheets, bu
without result.
Tin Plate Shipments Small.
Tin plate shipments ought TO be Iarg,
at this time and mill operations should
be brisk, but the contrary is the case
operations being down to about 25 pei
cent OF capacity and shipments very
small. Some tinplate producers look FOL
no great amount OF buying during Tho
rest Of this year, but expect that the
business of 1922 will reach a normal
average The country's stocks ot
canned goods and the limited new packs
will have become badly depleted by the
time that the next planting comes along
which will encourage heavy pack Most
current buying Of tin plate is confined
<o speciffcations arainst contract obfga.