CONFERENCE ON LEAD, ZINC

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28742, 13 November 1958, Page 19

CONFERENCE ON LEAD, ZINC

Agreements Reached

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) GENEVA, November 11.

The United Nations conference on lead and zinc has reached general agreement on the need for an international arrangement to control fluctuations in production and prices, reliable conference sources said today. The closed conference, attended by representatives of 29 of the world’s major exporting and importing countries began yesterday is due to end tomorrow. Conference sources said the import restrictions imposed by the United States on the two nonferrous metals had come under heavy criticism. There was general agreement that there should be some cut in production to match supply with world demand. The United States delegation is understood to have said that America was prepared to consider withdrawing the import restrictions once the world market situation warranted such a move. The situation at present, in Hie opinion of the United States, was that the restrictions would have to remain in force—at least for the time being. No concrete plans had yet been worked out as to how an international agreement controlling lead and zinc should operate, conference sources said. But the major exporting countries including Australia, Canada, South Africa, Peru and Mexico had indicated their willingness to consider production costs in an overall plan that would also result in the withdrawal of the United States import restrictions. Conference sources said that the present conference consisted, in the main, of a very frank exchange of views on the world market situation of the two nonferrous metals. The three-day span of the meeting, however, was too short a time in which to reach any concrete conclusions. At the end of the conference, delegations would report to their governments and another conference would probably be called later.

The conference sources said that the Soviet Union had also expressed its willingness to participate in any international control agreement.