BASE METAL PRICES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 93, 23 April 1946, Page 8

BASE METAL PRICES

NEW MAXIMUMS FIXED IN LONDON. A Press Association message from London states that the new maximum prices fixed by the Ministry of Supply for London metals are as follows: Copper electrolytic £72 stg. a ton; lead, foreign (pig), £45 a ton, British £46 10s; zinc (spelter) foreign £39 15s, British £4O. The previous prices ruling were:--Copper (electrolytic), £62 a ton; lead, £39, British, £4O 10s; zinc, £3l ss. Lead prices were increased by £9 a ton in January last, lead at that time being one of the few commodities of which Britain did not. hold any sub-' stantial stock. However, further increases in the principal base metals were recently foreshadowed owing to the world demand and the severe shortages largely caused by manpower difficulties. The increase is important to the Australian Barrier companies which have an equal interest in both lead and zinc, as well as to the Electrolytic Zinc Co., and to the copper producers. Australian domestic prices, however, have been held below the world prices and producing companies there have, in the past, been supplying Australian demands in full and relying on export markets as the main source or profit. Any loss in production therefore reduces the exportable surplus and the profits.