Evening star., 1933-10-05
STEEL CODE HELPS
TO GAUGE DEMAND
New Orders for Hot-RoIIed
Products Boost Total
Tonnage.
BY the Associated PRES,

BY the Associated PRES.
NEW YORK, October 5.-The placing
of fourth-quarter contracts for heavy
hot-rolled steel products brought con-
siderable tonnage to order books in the
last week, and general adherence to the
new form Of buying agreements. which
do not permit cancellations by con-
sumers, defined probable consumer re-
quirements more accurately than here
tofore.
Expiration of old contracts for sheets
and strip steel also brought heavy spe-
cifications, which will occupy mills fol-
the greater part of October. Tin plate
backlogs are adequate for the month
although production has been curtailed
by strikes. says the Iron Age.
The larger steel-consuming indus
tries are generally curtailing their re-
quirementS and give promise OF little
sustained improvement in the next two
months Motor car production is declln-
ing gradually and output this month Is
against probable 900 in September
Anticipate Higher Prices.
Increased steel takings, however, are
unlikely, as automobile companies have
been stocking heavily in anticipation OF
higher prices. This tendency Is also no,
ticed among many otter consumers OF
steel, and the extent to which fourth
quarter requirements nave been dis
counted will have an important bearing
on new buying in the next two months
The trend of production in NoVem-
ber and December also depends largely
upon the efforts of the Federal Govern
ment to stimulate business. with more
than half of Public Works Admlnlstra-
tion's fund now allocated, some large
projects are beginning to reacn the con, OH
tracting stage. Approximately 52,00c
tons of cast iron segments and steel
castings has been placed for the mlo-
town tunnel at New York, and Cleve-
land has awarded $4,000 tons OF cast
iron pipe for waterworks extensions.
.Promise of Government aid to the
railroads to finance rail purchases mas
developed estimated requirements from
a number of carriers, amounting 70
280 900 tons. 49,
Despite a sharp decline in the
Wheeling district, occaSioned by the
strike. steel ingot production this week
has risen l point to AZ per cent OF
capacity. With output unchangeo al
Chicago, Cleveland ana bll iiaiii' .
operations have been advanced g points
to 35 per cent at Pittsburgh ana
points to so per cent in the Valley
while the Philadelphia and Buffalo ols,
tricts have curtailed production l ana
points, respectively.
Pig-Iron Output Drops.
"Pig-iron output during September
dropped to l .522 ,257 tons or so ,742 tons
daily. compared with l,833.39 tons, or
59.l42 tons daily in August. The de-.
cline of 142 per cent followed a ga
per cent drop in ingot output during
August, while pig-iron production was
rising % per cent. Eleven furnaces
we're blown out or banked during Au-
gust and two were blown in, net loss
of nine.
Finished steel prices under the code
are rapidly becoming clarified, and, with
advances of SO a ton on bars and 81
on plates and shapes now effective. the
Iron Age composite price has been
raised to 2.036 cents pound, compared
with .992 cents last week. The pig
iron composite, affected by frelght-rate
adjustments, is 10 cents ton lower at
1851. while the composite for scrap
is down cents to sl0.96 ton