IC 8225 - State of Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral ...

i II GWPLY AND DIBTBEIUTION 247TABLE 60.-MmthlyMonth 1 1955January .......................... 30.14b r a ............... 33.00Mar ........................... 33.26Aoril ............................. 30.00Ma7 ............................. 36. 00June ............................. 36. 00July ............................. 36.00August ........................... 37.74Seotember ........................ 48.00&bber .......................... 46.07November ........................ 45.87December ........................ 49. 13Average .................... 38.93H i ................... 50. 25Low ................... 30.00I Not reported separately bebm Septembsr la, 8M.* NomAal.amrage copper prices oj czlstomer smelters, cents per pound, delivered 'I ~basis of 27.5 cents a pound. Maintenance-of-~roduction contracts based on product?on costswere granted to avoid losg pf production fromhighmt mines, and additional sets of priceswere established. Chile abrogated its agreementin May 1952 and embargoed exports tothe United States. On May 21 lmporten wereauthorized to pay higher prices on foreigncopper and to pass on to wnsqers 80 percentof costs above 27.5 cents, and sh ments to theUnited States were reaumed. E~I$ in June theincreases were permitted to be calculated atmore than 24.5 cents instead of 27.5.Supplies became more plentiful in 1953, andrice controls were abandoned in Februery.gy the end of April domestic and forelgn prices,except Chilean, were each about 30 cents apound. The rice for Chilean copper from thethree large u.%. mmes ' was held, under ChileanGovernment direction, at 35.5 cents a pound inChile-about 36.5 cents in the United StatesuntilDecember. Despite accelerated rates ofproduction in 1954 and 1955, the supply ofcopper was ,inadequate to meet increageddemand. Gams m new product~ve capacltwere offset by serious work stoppages in bot gyears, and by August 1955 copper was quotedat 43 cents a pound-the hlghest in 90 years.Custom smelters, whose pnce was quotedseparately for the first time in 1955, werequoting 50 cents a pound in September and50.25 cents in December.Prices continued to advance in 1956; byFebruary primary producers were quoting46 cents a pound, and custom+melter quotationsranged from 50.5 to 51.5 cents; for a shorttime custom smelters quoted 55 cents. Adownward trend be an with a kcent decreasein late March anf extended through earlyJuly, when the price was 37.5 cents. Reducedprices abroad and the dechiig custom smelterprice exerted pressure upon pnmary producers,and their price was lowered to, 40 cents a poundby midJuly, the first reduction m more thantwo years. In the latter half of 1956 a sbhtslackening in industrial demand and a a hrate of mine production indicated developmentof an oversupply, and the price was furtherreduced to 36 cents. At the end of the yearcustom smelters were quoting 35.5 to 36 cents.Despite efforts by most copper producersin 1957 to bring supply in balance with demandby curtailed output, the industry was facedwith oversupply throughout the year. Inslightly more than seven months the producerrlce dropped from 36 cents to 27 cents, thefowest since February 1953. Custom-smelterprices declined &o; by the end of 1957 thequotation was 25.5 cents. Fluctuat,ions inprices in 1958 resulted in a 13-percent decre.asem the annual average primary producer, pnce.By late October producers were quotmg 29cents, and in late November custom smelterswere on the 29-cent basis.Operations at most of the principal C?PPFproperties were halted by the onget stnke inhistory which began in August 1959 and continuedinto 1960. Mine production was thelowest annual total since 1949, and the pricerose to 33 cents on November 12. This priceheld until October 12, 1960, when it fell 3 centsa pound to 30 cents. A custom smelterposted a 33-cent price on August 31 but withdrewthe price on October 23 because of thestrikes. About mid-March 1960 custom smeltersestablished a 33-cent price, which wasreduced to 31 cents on October 3 and to 30