The Cement Trade.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 6, 1 April 1907, Page 229

The Cement Trade.

A REVIVING INDUSTRY. Writing in the Financial Times Mr. W. R. Lawson gives an encouraging account of the present position and prospects of the cement industry. A characteristic feature of the present industrial boom (he says) is the enormous demand for all sorts of raw materials and the lucrative prices they command Coal, iron, copper, and tin have all been making new records m the upward direction. Till lately there was one conspicuous exception to the general advance. Cement had got hopelessly left I ehind and the year 1905 was one jf the worst in its history While production steadily increased consumption fell off and glutted markets were the inevitable result.

THE RECENT DEPRESSION This painful experience was not confined to one of the many producing countries, or even to two or three It was common to England, France, Germany, Belgium, and in a lesser degree to the United States. Even the tremendous outburst of American railroad building, house building, and other forms of construction only alleviated the depression slightly, and at one time it was acute. But the greatest sufferers were the English and German manufacturers. In Germany there are 320 cement mills, with an aggregate capacity of about 28,000,000 barrels per annum In 1902 the sales fell below fifty per cent of the producing capacity Cement was sometimes sold then m Berlin at a piofit of less than del per barrel to the manufacturer. Foreign markets had to be found for the surplus output, consequently theie was universal " dumping " and undercutting.

" COMBINES " AND AGREEMENTS. But those dark days are over, and now the German cement makers have their " cartel ' the same as the iron masters, the steel rail makers, and the wire mills. There are, moreover, rumours of an international syndicate, which is to embrace England, France, Germany and Belgium. The idea cf it is to preserve to each producing country its own home market and to divide up the foreign markets as evenly as may be. Negotiations towards that end have been m progress for nearly two years. Their first result was a " combine " between the German and Belgian makers m the spring of 1905 for a geographical division of the Dutch market Soon after (April, 1905) the English and French producers arrived at a similar agreement, and not a long step farther would be needed to bring England, France and Germany into one fold. The " combines " themselves would not be very significant, apart from the great improvement that has taken place of late in the conditions under which they can now operate. When first mooted their object was to prevent the bottom falling out of the market. Now conditions have become so much more favourable that prices can not only be mamtianed, but advanced.

EFFECT OF THE EARTHQUAKE. The earthquake at San Francisco gets credit for having started the boom in cement. It did so in a psychological sense, though it was far from being the real cause. Had the revival not been already m progress the San Francisco earthquake could not have started it. The quantity of cement likely to be needed for re- building the city will not be so enormous as was imagined at first, and its consumption "wall t>e spread over several years. A hundred times as much will be wanted for the Panama Canal, and, at least, twenty times as much is being used now in railroad construction west of the Missouri River. The real effect of the San Francisco earthquake was to sound the alarm to cement users that the days of low prices were past. It accentuated the growing demand which was already in progress, and encouraged cement makers to make a firm stand for higher prices. The American position was simpler than our own, in so far as it suffered chiefly from over production. Consumption was active and growing, only it did not keep pace with the output, which was not surprising m view of the fact that the latter was estimated m 1904 at 3,000,000 tons per annum. The German total for the same year, as nearly as could be ascertained, was 2,500, 000 tons ; the English, 1,500,000 ; Belgian, 685,000; French, 555,000 ; Russian, 500,000 ; and miscellaneous, 500 tons.

NEW USES FOR CEMENT. Little wonder that all the markets broke down under these heavy outputs. But it was only a temporary collapse. The use of cement, like that of iron and steel, was extending so rapidly that it was bound soon to overtake production. New adaptations of it are continually being tried, and with invariable success. Every now and then some new form or combination of it is heard of among constructive engineers. Until a few years ago the cement mills were chiefly dependent on the building tr:de. They are so still in many countries, and even in England more than they should be. But that is likely to become a secondary factor by-and-by. Civil and Military engineers will soon be the chief users of concrete. Already it has been employed very successfully on harbour works, military forts, and railway construction. Thousands of yards of concrete were used in the extension of the Naval Dockyard at Chatham. Not only the foundations but the walls, roofs, and arches were thus formed Concrete blocks, properly finished, were found to be stronger and cheaper than the old style of brick wall with concrete back ing. The latest type of modern fort consists of lines and cross lines of concrete blocks, forming a solid uniform structure. Sea walls and retaining walls of all kinds are no longer made of anything but concrete, plain or reinforced with steel The stee, may be anything from Jin rod up to a heavy girder

FERROCONCRETE SLEEPERS The very latest novelty in " ferro- concrete," as it is sometimes called, is a railway sleeper that is being experimented with on one or two American roads, amongst others the Lake Shore. It is of the usual shape of a sleeper, but thicker and much heavier. A length of old rail is imbedded m the concrete and the whole weighs about 4001b. Should it answer, it will be practically everlasting, and it ought to be, considering its first cost. Our own railway engineers have not yet got as far as ferro concrete sleepers but they are building concrete bridges, viaducts, and even tunnels. Many new lines lately constructed or now under construction, such as the Axminster and Lyme Regis and the Fort William and Fort Augustus, have been rendered practicable only by the economical use of concrete in place of stone or brick. Not only is the material itself cheaper, but

a still larger saving is effected by the use of unskilled instead of skilled labour. The latter consideration only begins to be appreciated in this country, but it is clearly realised m the United States. It tells greatly m favour of concrete in comparison with materials that require a larger amount of labour. The immense electric power works at Niagara Falls aie a case in point Their " intake bays " have miles of letaining walls which could never have been built of ordinary masonry. Last November I saw some of them which had swallowed up hundreds of thousands of barrels of cement. Most of it came from Pennsylvania, and including import duty it had cost on the spot about ninety cents per barrel. It must have risen consul erably since then however

THE PANAMA C\N \I If something like half a million banels of cement could be dumped on a section of the Niagara River only two or three miles long, how many million bands will be needed to line the nicies of the Panama Canal, build all its locks and warehouses, and foim harbours for it at either end ' More interesting still, if the greed of the American Trusts should raise a fiscal revolt against them and precipitate a sweeping reduction of the prospective duties they batten upon, what a market for English cement the Panama Canal would offer. Anyhow, the English trade is evident ly at the dawn of happier days It has got more control over its own market than it ever had before, and it is also gaining giound slowly but surely in foreign markets. That is proved by the almobt universial increase of its exports during the last eighteen months.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS The following table shows substantial inciea.se in every foreign and colonial market, with the single exception of Austiaha. This year Australia also has taken an upward turn —

Another satisfactory feature of the same year was a substantial decline in the imports of foreign cement into this country. Tn 1904 they amounted to 272, 954 tons, but last year they fell to 234,588 tons. The imported article is chiefly Belgian, and its chief market is among jerry builders. Fortunately it is not so progressive as the British exports. These have scored another large gain in the first seven months of the current year, their total having risen from 259,254 tons to 358,551 tons. Fully half of the increase was due to the larger demands of the United States, which during the seven months advanced from under 4,000 tons to nearly (51,000 tons. This year the Americans promise to be our best customers for cement Whether they want it for San Francisco or the Panama Canal matters little. There is every likelihood of their being laige buyeis for several years to come In every other direction the prospect of the cement trade is once more healthy and hopeful The rise in cement shares which started so suddenly is, therefore, a very natural anticipation of better earnings and higher dividends than have been in vogue hithei to.

South Africa, tons .... India New Zealand Australia Canada Argentina Brazil United States Netherlands 83,609 85,005) 87,685.. . .97,864 ■24 805. . 28,351 16,292 15,432 15,561 . . . 28,303 12,014 17,688 6,445 13,919 5,073 11,590 1,925 3,319

Exports of British Cem nt, 1004 and 1903