Evening star., 1939-05-11
More Stable Copper
Market Likely as
Buying Appears
Shortage in England
Stirs Interest of
U. S. Fobricotors
BY the Associated Press.

.
NEW YORK, May l1-Possibility
a rather chaotic price situation in
copper might be stabilized as a
result of a wave of buying in both
domestic and foreign markets was
seen today by some Wall Street
analysts.
The eagerness to stock up with
the red metal appeared to have been
touched of yesterday by reports of
a shortage of electrolytic copper in
England, with dealers there turning
to the United States to fill their
contracts.
The reports stimulated domestic
fabricators, whose inventories were
said to be very low to buy in an
ticipation of possible rise in price.
Copper has sold here, delivered at
bases in the Connecticut River VAL
ley, at 10 cents q pound since May
8, when the price was dropped from
1925 cents by most producers. Scrap
copper and the output of some of
the smaller smelters, however, was
disposed of at lower rates and until
yesterday fabricators appeared to
be buying on a hand-to-mouth basis
in the belief the domestic price level
would be lowered.
Price Is Boosted.
Yesterday. however, inquiries for
copper for export to Europe at as
high as 1919 cents we're received.
At that price it would be a little
more profitable for producers to sell
abroad than in this country.
Copper has had a varied price
history and sales record in the last
few years. Since 1927 the price
range has been between S and
% cents a pound and buying has
been in waves rather than in steady
movements.
Fabricators, in view of that his
tory, have formed the habit of pur-
chasing in quantity only when they
feared price increases and this has
resulted in the buying waves which
forced the price up and resulted
in overstocking by consumers.
This happened in late 1896 and
the early part of 1887 when the
price advanced rapidly from g..
cents to II cents pound. Then
demand died away, and such heavy
stocks existed that it took many
months to work of the surplus.
U. S. Leads in Use.
The widespread use of copper in
electrical equipment, in automobiles
and the building trades has made
the United States a far heavier
user of the metal per capita than
other countries of the world, How
ever, the demand from abroad has
been heavily stimulated by arma-
ment requirements and Britain,
Italy, Germany and Japan have
been large purchasers.
Foreign mines, especially in the
Belgian Congo, Canada and Latin
America, are low-cost producers, be-
ing able to turn the metal out profit
ably at less than cents a pound,
and much of the armament business
has gone to them. American poten-
tial output is estimated at more than
/ 900 600 tons annually, of which 90
per cent can be produced at less
than ii cents a pound on the basis
of early 1889 wages and supply
prices.
Observers said further stabiliza-
ton of prices might await publica-
ton Of the industry's monthly sta
tistics for April, expected late this
week, when production, consumption
and existing stocks for both the
United States and the world will be
known. In the trade it was thought
world consumption would show an
increase over March and that while
stocks might not be reduced, they
would not demonstrate any heavy
over-production.