STRENGTH OF COPPER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 10, 12 January 1929, Page 4

STRENGTH OF COPPER.

DUE TO AMERICANS. A sustained advance in the quotation for copper has been the bright feature of the dealing in metals on the London Metal Exchange during the year. At present there are no indications of a reaction in the price of the metal. Confidence is apparently felt in the stability of the market, and consumers are regarded as still bein<? faced with a strong position. The production of copper has increased more rapidly than that of nil the metals, and is probably the only metal the demand for which exceeds the supply. The strengthening movement can chiefly be attributed to the activities of Copper Producers Incorporated, the American organisation, and has been welcomed in Australia, notwithstanding that Mount Lyeli is the only company producing on a bi-; scale. The stiffening of the price of th'p metal was one of the cbief factors influencing Mount Klliott to reopen several of the mines on the Cloncurry field, in North Queensland. The raising of prices by the American cartel has not been received with favour in Germany and France. One metal journal asserts that when the organisation was formed the professed purpose was to eliminate speculation and rapid advances. A moderate price policy has been followed, it is claimed, by " a series of leaps." Perhaps the cartel is endeavouring to reach a given price- level at which copper will be held for a considerable period. The latest quotation for electrolytic, of £76 5/ per ton, is the highest for over five years. In 1923 the highest price touched was £83 5/, and the lowest £63 5/ per ton.