Golden Copper

Copper was more costly in the U.S. last week than at any time since Anaconda. Kennecott and Phelps Dodge started grand-scale copper mining in the west where the Flathead, Ute and Apache once roamed. The Big Three U.S. copper companies boosted prices to 46-c- a lb., an increase of 30-c- since 1950. On the London market, which has been successfully snagging copper coveted by U.S. industry, the price shot up to 52.5-c- a lb.

Worldwide copper strikes last year put a serious crimp in production. Meanwhile, annual world consumption has risen to more than 2 Ibs. per capita v. .6 in 1900. The U.S., where per capita consumption has soared from 5 to 17 Ibs. a year since 1900, now uses more than half the free world's copper production. For example, the electrical industry, which expects to double in size in the next decade, uses 115 Ibs. of copper to generate and distribute each new kilowatt of power.

The latest price boost was demanded by Chile, where Anaconda and Kennecott mine a critical 14% of the world's supply. The Chilean government, which now channels no more than one-third of its copper output to the U.S. understandably opposes U.S. producers' efforts to keep the price down because it gets a cut of company profits. Many U.S. industries also feel that the only way to get more of the metal is to lure Chilean copper back from Europe by matching Europe's price. The copper shortage in the U.S. has spurred use of substitutes; e.g., radio manufacturers used 246% more aluminum in 1953 than 1947 v. 132% more copper.

Copper producers are racing to boost output, expect worldwide capacity to increase by 229,500 short tons in 1956, or 8.3%, plus another 150,000 tons lost by strikes last year. By 1958 world copper capacity should be 15.7% above the 1955 level (2,928,000 tons). In Washington last week Government agencies were uniformly hopeful that the copper squeeze will end by midyear as a result of increased supply and slackening demand in some industries. However, few users put off orders in the hope that plentiful copper is just around the corner. Even without strikes, many argued, long-term demand for consumer goods in the U.S. and underdeveloped countries abroad will continue to keep the pressure on price and supplies.

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