to 656,179,349 pounds, as compared with 592,326,608 pounds in 1907, and there were 218,716,268 pounds of foreign origin, as compared with 245,062,814 pounds in 1907. Electrolytic copper from secondary sources to the amount of 2,551,077 pounds was produced, making a total electrolytic production for the year of 877,446,694 pounds, as compared with 845,706,283 pounds in 1907. The copper content of the bluestone turned out by the refineries during 1908 was approximately 9,674,773 pounds, or about 1.10 per cent of the copper subjected to electrolytic treatment. TOTAL REFINED COPPER. The total production of refined new copper for 1908 was 1,094,700,123 pounds, the largest output in the history of the industry, exceeding the 1906 production of 1,079,052,409 pounds by 15,647,714 pounds, and the 1907 output of 1,032,516,247 pounds by 62,183,876 pounds. The production of electrolytic, Lake, and casting copper for 1907 and 1908 is shown in the following table: The 1908 figures for domestic electrolytic include 26,786,485 pounds of Lake copper which were refined electrolytically; those for 1907 contain 34,917,988 pounds of Lake copper. If to the 875,849,129 pounds of refined output from primary sources of domestic origin is added the 43,262,285 pounds of blister copper exported, and so far as known consumed without refining, the total output of marketable copper from primary sources in the United States was 919,111,414 pounds. Add to this the 218,850,994 pounds derived from foreign sources and the 23,213,677 pounds from secondary sources, and the contribution of the United States plants to the world's supply of marketable copper is found to be 1,161,176,085 pounds, or 69 per cent of the world's output for 1908. COPPER SULPHATE. The production of copper sulphate or bluestone by the refineries of the United States, in 1908, was 38,240,211 pounds, having a copper content of 25.3 per cent, or 9,674,733 pounds, as compared with about 33,464,950 pounds, with a copper content of about 8,466,632 pounds, in 1907. STOCKS. Returns from all smelting and refining companies show that the following stocks of electrolytic, Lake, and casting copper were on hand at the beginning and end of the year 1908: Stocks carried Undelivered sales are excluded from these figures. by consumers and brokers have not been ascertained. In addition to the stocks of refined copper there were at smelters, in transit to the refineries, and at the refineries, blister copper and material in process of refining to the amount of 175,254,659 pounds, January 1, 1908, and of 234,013,843 pounds, January 1, 1909. Stocks were accumulating during the last months of the year and continued to do so during the early part of 1909. By the middle of the year, however, production and consumption were about equal. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. IMPORTS. The quantity of copper in unmanufactured form imported into the United States in 1908 was 218,705,487 pounds, according to the records of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor. The imports in 1907 were 252,620,054 pounds. following table shows the character and source of copper-bearing materials inported during 1907 and 1908: a The Imports of copper into the United States in 1907 and 1908, by countries, in pounds. a The change in this figure from that published in the 1907 report is due to corrections made in the records of the Bureau of Statistics. Owing to the fact that unmanufactured copper is not dutiable a less accurate account of copper imports is kept than of dutiable articles. The separation of ore and matte is evidently not accurate, though combined ore and matte are more nearly correct. The total imports of 218,705,487 pounds include 7,067,092 pounds of copper in matte and blister derived from ores from the United States, leaving 211,638,395 pounds of foreign origin. According to reports from smelters and refineries, 218,850,994 pounds were derived from foreign sources, making a discrepancy of 7,212,599 pounds between the figures reported by smelting and refining companies and those of the Bureau of Statistics. If losses in smelting and refining of the imported materials were taken into consideration, the discrepancy would be considerably greater. The following table shows imports for consumption: Ore, copper content... Imports for consumption, 1908, in pounds. Matte, copper content.. Copper, unmanufactured regulus, etc. 40,477, 621 13, 551, 189 358, 990 2, 182, 839 158, 041, 552 214, 612, 191 It will be noted that the total of "Imports for consumption" are less than "Imports by countries," and the discrepancy between the figures of imports for consumption and those of the smelters and refineries are correspondingly greater. EXPORTS. The exports of metallic copper from the United States in 1908 amounted to 661,876,127 pounds, according to the Bureau of Statistics. This is the largest export made in any year, exceeding that of 1904 by 107,326,097 pounds, and that of 1907 by 152,946,726 pounds. In addition to the exports of metallic copper, the copper contents of 63,149 long tons of ore, matte, and regulus were exported in 1908, as compared with 99,144 long tons in 1907. Exports of domestic copper from the United States in 1907 and 1908, by countries. The exports to the different countries show a rather uniform increase, the large exportations being due to the low price of copper during the year, which stimulated the purchase of copper by foreign countries. The exports of pigs, bars, plates, and old, in 1908 included43,262,285 pounds of blister; in 1907 it included 42,350,463 pounds. The deduction of this quantity from the total gives 618,613,842 pounds of refined copper exported in 1908 as compared with 465,496,007 in 1907. CONSUMPTION. The apparent consumption of refined new copper in the United States in 1908 was about 480,000,000 pounds, as compared with about 488,000,000 pounds in 1907. As it is practically impossible to ascertain the consumption by a direct method, the most feasibie method appears to be to deduct the total copper withdrawn from supply during the year from the total supply. If these data are correct, the apparent consumption will probably be very close to the actual consumption. Since all refining companies have furnished figures showing stocks on hand, the data are complete and believed to be accurate for ascertaining the consumption by this method. The following table shows the apparent consumption of refined new copper in the United States in 1907 and 1908: Domestic consumption of refined copper in 1907 and 1908, in pounds. a Exports of pigs, bars, ingots, plates, etc., reported by the Bureau of Statistics, less 43,262,285 pounds of blister exported without refining. About 55 per cent of the domestic product of refined copper was consumed in the United States. If to the refined product are added the 43,262,285 pounds exported without refining, it is found that in 1908 about 48 per cent of the copper derived from ores mined in the United States was exported. This compares with 41 per cent in 1907 and 24 per cent in 1906. To the apparent consumption of new copper should be added that produced from secondary sources, a large part of which entered into the year's consumption. This amounted to about 23,000,000 pounds. in 1908, and about 60,000,000 pounds in 1907, making a total consumption of about 503,000,000 pounds in 1908, as compared with about 547,000,000 pounds in 1907. USES. No systematic attempt has been made to ascertain the proportion of the copper output of 1908 used in different industries for electrolytic purposes, brass manufacture, casting, etc. Some idea, however, of the quantities entering the different industries can be gained from the forms in which the output of the refineries was cast. The following table shows the approximate quantity of copper cast in the different forms during 1908. In a few instances these are estimates made by the refining company, an accurate account of the form in which the output was cast not being available. They are believed, however, to correspond very closely to the actual forms in which the copper was put on the market. Forms in which the refinery output was cast in 1908, in pounds. a Includes some copper "in process." It will be noted that this total is somewhat smaller than the total of refinery output of new and old copper in 1908. It may be assumed that a large portion of the 47 per cent of the copper output cast as wire bars was used for electrical purposes, and that the 12 per cent cast as cakes was used largely for rolling. The other forms are less easily classified. The 12 per cent cast as cathodes, together with a portion of the ingots, entered the brass industry, and a large amount of copper ingots were used in casting. It was estimated, on more complete data, that the consumption in 1907 was in the following proportions: Electrical purposes, 45.3 per cent; brass manufacture, 30.9 per cent; rolling mills, sheet copper, 6.2 per cent; miscellaneous uses, principally casting, 17.6 per cent. PRICES. The average quoted price of electrolytic copper at New York, in 1908 was 13.2 cents per pound. In 1907 the price was 20 cents per pound. The average monthly prices for electrolytic copper in 1907 and 1908 are given in the following table: Monthly prices per pound of copper in 1907 and 1908. The average yearly price of Lake copper was 13.4 cents. These quoted prices are the basis on which much of the copper is sold by the mines and are used by the Geological Survey in calculating the value 87150-M R 1908, PT 1--15 |