COAL - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 41
THE PULSE OF
On new business, bituminous coal is bound to
cost more from this time on indefinitely. At a
recent meeting in Columbus, O., of producers in
the Ohio. West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania
fields an understanding was reached that
the price on all-rail coal be increased 10 cents the
ton, starting with the current month. The northwest
dock interests put prices up 15 cents the ton
last month and to meet the extraordinary demand
this may be added to in the present month. There
is a rush in buying. The advance of the upper
lake dock interests does not. of course, affect the
price on the shipments up the lakes but inasmuch
as the one great interest of the Pittsburgh district
controls the upper lake docking facilities, the
better prices will inure to the profits of this
producing interest as effectually as thougn it had
sharply marked up prices at its mines. The advance
will as a matter of course only affect the
free coal at the upper lake docks, not that covered
in specifications under old contracts for the
season. Heavy demand for requirements in the
northwest call for a rush of shipments up the
lakes, which is materially handicapped by the
car shortage. This shortage is a real factor in
the trade. It verges on the serious condition of
the blockaded nerve-trying condition of 1902,
when most exceptional methods were employed
in appropriating empties. With its congested
railway facilities the Pittsburgh district first feels
the car shortage although it is now a factor
throughout the producing fields. With the ear
shortage formidable at this time it is unlikely
that the lake movement this season from Pittsburgh
and adjacent fields will make the record
previously anticipated. In the Pittsburgh field
there is now only a three-days-the-week car supply.
Putting it in a nutshell the bituminous trade
nearly everywhere is on an upward trend, substantially
based on demand. It is entirely devoid
of any artificial price making which invariably
ruins naturally bettering conditions. Pittsburgh
field mine-run coal is in strong demand at
from $1 to $1.05 at mine to the trade. There is
an exceptionally heavy demand for slack and some
of the larger producers are buying this line for
their trade at prices above anything which has
ruled before in two years.
Coke prices have advanced since our last report.
For the strictly Connellsville product, under 1
per cent, in sulphur, the furnace grade is held at
$2.25 the ton to the trade and foundry at $2.50.
The lower Connellsville or high sulphur product
is selling at $1.90 for furnace and $2.25 for foun-
THE MARKETS.
dry. Some substantial contracts have been closed
for delivery through the first half of next year at
these prices. The car shortage has been felt in
the coking fields and production is therefore somewhat
curtailed in its upward tendency. Production
in the Connellsville field is now on an average
of about 260,000 tons the week with shipments
in the week ending September 23 somewhat higher
than this and involving an increase of nearly 2,000
tons compared to the previous week. In the
Masontown field shipments are now at an average
of about 68.000 tons the week, a reduction of
about 1,750 tons compared to weeks previous. The
combined production of the Connellsville and the
lower Connellsville region during 1905 will exceed
15.000,000 tons and may reach 16.000,000.
Eastern seaboard soft coal trade has a large
volume of coal going forward, while heavy demand
oc/ntinues for further shipments. Prices are
strong, and on transient business are advancing.
None of the shipping ports has any surplus coal
on hand, and vessels are waiting in many Instances
for arrivals of coal from the interior. The
general condition is that the demand is larger than
the supply. Car service is better than would be
expected, although it is curtailed to many shippers,
for which reason, the full output of the mines is
not coming forward. The Baltimore & Ohio has
issued an order stopping all shipments in its
own and Reading cars to points on the New York,
New Haven & Hartford, to which road nearly all
of these foreign, all-rail shipments go. Trade in
the far east is active, and most producers have a
large stock of orders from this territory to dispose
of, while consumers are urgent about getting
their coal forward before the inauguration of
coastwise winter rates. Trade in New York harbor
is active. Prices seem to be about $2.60'
f. o. b. shipping points for fair grades, and $2.30#
$2.35 for slack. The market for coal from Illinois
and Indiana mines—the source of supply for
Chicago territory's fuel needs—is decidedly better.
Car shortage is a factor. Markets of the southern
and southwestern producers are strengthening.
The anthracite market shows some improvement,
although the active fall demand has not
yet begun. Marked activity need not be expected
until the beginning of colder weather. The small
sizes are in abundant supply and there is no shortage
of domestic sizes. The mines are working
full time and are stocking their surplus. A report
from Scranton states that the large producers