PRICES OF METALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1937, Page 12

PRICES OF METALS

SHARP ADVANCES

SCRAMBLE FOR MATERIALS

(By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received March 12, 10 a.m.)

LONDON, March 11

Spectacular rises in the price of tin have taken the market by surprise. Only a week ago a leading firm of metal brokers advised curtailment of the quota/on the ground of a possible over-supply in relation to the genuine demand.

It now appears that the bulk of the buying is coming from speculators, not consumers, based on the belief that tin is under-valued in relation to other metals.

The total turnover of the four base metals yesterday represented £ 1,500,000 sterling. Some operators are believed to have made large fortunes. Rubber is again higher on Russian and American buying.

The increasingly hectic world scramble for raw materials is evidenced by a German decree controlling supplies of iron and the stoppage of exports from Belgium.

The British Iron and Steel Federation is negotiating with the Soviet Government for the immediate purchase of 500,000 tons of iron ore valued at £2,000,000 sterling.

The excitement in the commodity market has extended to wheat and .cotton.

While reactions from time to time appear inevitable, the general opinion in London is that higher commodity prices have come to stay. Some authorities in the City are of the opinion that one happy asp.ect of the rise is that it makes it more difficult for Italy and .Germany to carry out their dangerous re-armament schemes.