The New York herald., 1921-08-07
OIL Country Seeking Plates.

lHlS IdpIlCdtDF reports GOnSlQeraD Die
interest in tanks among the oil COM
panies Of Wyoming, Colorado and Lou
isiana. which may lead to some plate
tonnage business later. One typical in
quiry among producers here calls for
1000 plates, issued through one OF the
forging companies.
Manufacturers of merchant steel bars
are holding firmly to the level of 1.75c..
base Pittsburgh, and reports of conces-
sicns under that figure appear to be un-
founded. Some of the nut and bolt pro
ducers are buying small lots In fact.
all purchasers are buying one or two
carloads at time. and makers are not
willing to shade the 1.75c. level for the
limited tonnage offered. One large val
ley bar producer accumulated orders for
approximately 500 tons last week, all
made UP OF small lots of 100 tons and
less
Refined iron Is quoted lower, being
reduced from 2.50o. to 225c, or SIS a
ton. Inquiries have Increased slightly,
and small sales are moro frequent Some
of this business Is coming from the
railroads in connection with their repa ir
programmes. A few small orders for
refined iron for stay bolts are noted.
Low phosphorus melting bars still re-
main quotable at soc, base Pittsburgh
a
better demand is now a settled fact. It
comes mostly from jobbers who are
buying black and galvanized sheets,
indicating that jobbers' stocks. as we'll
as stocks of those who supply their
needs through jobbers, are getting low.
This increased demand has brought
about slightly increased operations
among the producers.
The leading sheet interest Is oper-
ating about 40 per cent of its mills,
with every prospect of more being added
next week and the week after. Other
sheet makers. particularly among the
union mills, are increasing their sched-
ules now that the wage basis has been
settled. With the leading interest both
galvanized sheets for car roof repairs
demand The latter in No % gauge for
automobile bodies Is quoted at 4.70c..
base Pittsburgh.
Some little demand for electrical
sheets continues to be noted, but large
users still have slzable stocks, and buy
only to round them out. Prices here
are generally held at 2.40c. for blue
annealed, 3.25c. for black, and 4.25 for
galvanized sheets. The Steel Corpora
ton maintains prices of 2.65c., 8.5oc- and
4.5oc. on these grades. respectively.
Users of tin plate continue to specify
against their contracts, although new
buying still holds off. The tin plate
and canning industries as a rule do not
look for any real Improvement In the
remainder of the year, now that the
last half has come. They expect how
ever, that 1922 will make up for the
lack of business prevailing. Regular
customers are taking from one to ten
carloads weekly on old commitments,
whereas their requirements are ordi-
narily much larger. The general price
named is S5.75 a base box of 100 pounds.
Pittsburgh, although $3.50 likewise has
been done on production plate In all
probability some active price cutting
would prevail We're live inquiry to be
issued for anything like 100000 base
boxes. but there is nothing to indicate
such an event.
Iron and steel sellers see no upturn
in the demand for scrap for use in
either steel works or iron foundries. No
live inquiry is before them and while
few users offer bids on such material
as they always use, these for the most
part are uninteresting to sellers because
they are too low. Several items In the
list of the Pennsylvania Railroad. West
ern region, have been awarded to local
brokers. Prices are unchanged on any
of the grades. The West Penn Steel
Company Is this week offering to buy
heavy breakable cast at so cents ton
below its bid of last week. without re-
suit.