The New York herald., 1921-10-23
STEEL BUYERS HOLD
OFF FOR RAIL CUTS
Mills Find That Drastic Re-
ductiOns Do Not Increase
Consumption.
PIPE SALES ARE LARGER
Market for Hoops and Bands
Is Wfdened-Sales Of Auto
mobile Sheets Fall OFF.

specidl Dsspatoh TO THE NEW Yolx HuArp
PITTSBURGH. Oct. 22. III cannot be
said that steel demand has increased
any In the past week or ten days. and
something Of chill has crept over parts
Of the market The cause may be the
lear approach Of winter. when steel
CONSUMPTION naturally decreases soine-
what. In some quarters the recent inti-
nation Of the railroads that general re-
ductions In freight rates would come
soon Is given as the probable cause.
The lightness of steel demand hasSnot
had an unfavorable effect upon prices.
but rather seems to exert an influence In
the opposite direction. Almost all the
mills are now strongly disposed to seek
actual cost IN such sales as they make.
naving found by crucial experiment that
Acastic price reductions to below cost
have not broadened the actual consump-
tion. The ONLY reason for selling below
cost was 20 get things going again. The
steel trade has not taken seriously the
threat Of railroad strike and assumes
thatfit will be -averted. with a much
clearer atmosphere thereafter.
Pig from has been particularly dun
since the announcement ten days ago of
ers are disposed to hold off as long as
possible In anticipation Of lower freights
on coke. limestone and pig iron. whereby.
the cost Of pig iron delivered Is expected
to be reduced. The local market re-
nnained quiet this week, and there Is
hardly an inquiry and none Of great
sipe.
Pig iron prices are quotabie just the
same as for several weeks. as foliowS
Besserner, $40: basic. $1S.25@20: foun-
dry.@$21. These prices are (. o. b. valley
furnaces. with freight rate to- Pitts
burgh ats3l.s6. a ~ - 81.
The, Connellsvilie coke market. which
was gaining In strength two weeks, a&o>
has softened In general tone trffle
more. There Is, no actual decline In
prices. except that occasional lots of
spot furnace coke can be picked up at
a few cents ton less than week ago.
Fourth quarter contracts for furnace
coke have been made at RIO and 81
making the market qyotable at that
range, Demand for foundry coke has
decreased to An to A76, as II was two
weeks ago. while last week $3.50 was the
minimum, The threat of railroad
strike has increased the demand for
spot COAL but thtis far at least no ef-
feet on the coke market has been no.
ticed.
OIL Well Supplies Sought. r.
OIL country goods continue to be more
popular among present pipe buyers. al
though standard merchant pipe runs q
close second. Virtually all shipments
are wanted quickly. Carload orders are
frequent. and most all these call for one
size. although occasionally a mixed car
load Is bought. Increased activity noted
among oil producers appears directly
traceable to the higher levels prevailing
on crude oil. Some jobbers are sending
in orders. showing that recent ship
ments have been sold. Operations con-
tinue on the basis OF approximately o6
per cent. Of capacity. AS is usually the
case. the only concessions available are
on line pipe. the other grades Of tubular
goods holding firmly TO the card dis
counts. tt4 3e..n
The demand for wrought iron pipe i'm.
proves from month to month, and Oc-
tober is continuing the gain started in
September. No outstanding tonnage is
noted, but fair aggregate Is made up
Of various small lots.
Sheet producers In the Pittsburgh dis
trict are not In unison regarding the ad-
vance OF IS a ton made on black and
galvanized sheets on October Is BY
Independent makers In the youngstown
district. Some Independent producers
here and in Wheeling. as well as the
American Sheet and Tin Plate Company,
still name ESQ cents for blue annealed,
cents for black and 4 cents for gal
vAniEed. base Pittsburgh. Considerab ble
tonnage has been booked by the mills
naming the lower prices and the leading
interest especially Is maintaining a 80
per cent operation. The present de-
nand appears to be well diversified and
is particularly conspicuous from the
middle Western and Western territories,
although the Southern States are still
active as buyers of black and galvanized
sheets.
Demand for automobile sheets IS
dwindling. and fvll finished automobile
body sheets are quoted at l.36 cents to
4.sO cents. the latter price being named
by one or two prominent independents,
while 4.35 cents still remains the quota
tion or the leading interest
Unless something unforeseen develops
to interrupt the flow OF specifications
coming to the tin plate mills In this
district. the present average rate of
operations. which 10 about so per cent,
will continue for several weeks. Some
OF these specifications coming from vari-
Gus food packers are on regular con-
tracts for shipment in December. which
are due forty-five days prior to that
time.
Tin Plate I'm Good Demand.
The United States Steel Corporation
reports that customers are anxious
to obtain material and are furnish.
ing specifications to enable II to MAIN
tain operations at about so per cent. of
capa city. One large independent here
continues to operate twenty mills seven
teen turns weekly. which Is one turn
better than usual, with Indications OF
its being able to continue along that
line for several weeks. The market
continues Qvotable at IS to 1925 a base
box. iPittrburgh. the minimum having
been shaded for ore or two davs recently.
when an Ohio mill sought tonnage on
which TO operate because OF the favor
able labor conditions.
After the squirt enjoyed by iron and
steel scrap sellers for the last ten days.
whom several buyers were In the mn rkct
at ono time, the present period Is the
dullest In a year. Several companies
at Monessen and other points near
Pittsburgh would take heavy melting
steel and other grades at their own
prices. not being inclined TO pay the
higher quoted figures. VIII ch. however
are not unnecessarily high considering
what the dealers had to pay for the
scrap now In their yards. There are no
changes In quotations.
New Inquiries and orders for hoors
and bands ara being received IN a