Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-03-22
WEEKLY COPPER REVIEW
BY CHARLES. II. WILLIS
Editor The Mining journal

Everybody satisfied" characIeflAeS
the present copper market, the pro-
ducers being well sold ahead and
having but little of the metal to
dispose of, and the sellers well bought
ahead and their immediate require
ments cared for Thus we have
quiet copper market, with but little
metal moving, the lull following
about six weeks of very active buy
ing.
The lead market seems very firm
at 1865 without tendency to move in
either direction. Buying is generally
good, with sellers unwilling to quote
for anything beyond April delivery
AS an index, some lead has been sold
for June delivery at 7.7O.
The further slump in silver to 54M
comes as a result of two things, the
reported passage of the bill to sta
bilize the Indian rupee on gold
basis and the weakness of China eX
change due to the war conditions.
The acceptance of the report of the
Indian currency commission is to
take effect as of April |.
While this has undoubtedly had its
effect on the silver price, there are
many students of the silver situation
who can see no effect on the metal
from the changing of India to the
gold standard. However, it increases
the uncertainty of the metal, and this
alone is sufficient to weaken the
price.
February lead production from the
United States and Mexico showed a
drop of 72,S41 tons crude lead in
January to 67,917 tons in February
Likewise, a similar drop was shown
in refined lead from 68,151 tons in
January to 63,921 tons in February.
This brings the lead production back
to a point that is little below the
rate of production of September, as
65,95S tons crude and 65,5S9 tons re-
fined were produced during the month
September was the month directly
before the production increase, which
started the lead price skidding. the
February production figures undoubt-
edly have much to do with the pres
ent better price and firmer market
Zinc production in the United States,
Mexico, Canada and Belgium all were
less in February than in January
Canada and Mexico are not producers
of zinc in any great quantity, but
Belgium has an important influence
Belgium dropped from 1898 tons in
January to 17,464 tons in February
while the United States dropped
from 56,SSS tons to slab.
This brings the production back to
about the figures of last August, but
the stocks of surplus zinc are about
twice the amount of last August, due
to the greater production during that
past several months. The stock of
zinc in the United States is 92,9SS
tons, as of March 1.
The curtailment of lead and zinc
production is greater than in copper.
as the Joplin production alone has
been cut about rs per cent in recent
months, vet the lead production of
1926 was about per cent in excess Of
1925. Lead and zinc also are merely
cutting off their advances of last
fall, although they are going farther
in the cutting process than is being
done in the coppers.
While February copper production
in. North and South America took
quite a drop in February, from 128,-
736 tons to 119,147, it was not enough
to keep the surplus of refined copper
from taking big jump upwards. For
the first time in the past two years
the copper surplus exceeds 100000
tons now standing at 105,020 tons, as
against 9S,9S2 tons at the end of
January.
OF course, the surplus of copper is
not yet up to what was considered a
normal surplus before the war, as it
still represents less than one months
demand, and it was once thought to
be dangerously low if it was less
than a six weeks supply.
The reason for the increase in sur
plus in the face of decreased produc-
tions comes from the fact that Febru-
airy shipments dropped in February,
both foreign and domestic. The for
eign shipments totaled 1880 tons in
February, as against 48,1S0 in Janu-
airy, and domestic shipments totaled
67,564 tons in February as against
76,499 tons in January.
These figures are not quite COM
parable on account of February being
2S-day month";, as will be seen by
the fact that copper curtailment did
not show up in the February figures,
as 4,S68 tons of copper were produced
each day, as against 1924 tons per
day in January The real reason for
the increase in surplus was that the