Thus, the copper industry now has behind it the difficulties that unsettled it most of this year. All the uncertainties that beset such an international commodity as copper (trouble in the Congo, for instance) have not, by any means, disappeared. But there does seem to be a pause, for the moment at least, in their intensity. In addition to strikes and political uncertainties, the copper industry has faced an unprecedented peacetime demand. It entered 1964 expecting an increase in the Free World's consumption of copper of about 3 to 5%. But 1964 deliveries are running 9% above 1963's and still fall short of demand. Total Free World consumption in 1964 will be about 4.1 million tons of refined copper (on the basis of 10 months' data). Prices. The net result of this year's high demand has been a price increase. During two and a half years of price stability, from mid-1961 through 1963, U.S. producers sold refined copper at a delivered price of 31 cents a pound in the U.S. (in wire bars, the form that is the standard price reference for copper). In March of this year, U.S. producers raised the price to 32 cents and then in September to 34 cents to match foreign producers' prices. In October, Anaconda raised the price of its Chilean output sold in the U.S. to 35 cents, but its domestic output still sells for 34 cents. Some 85 to 90% of U.S. copper is sold directly by producers to the consuming industries. The small amount traded on commodity exchanges has been subject to wild speculation this year. On the New York Commodity Exchange, prices for copper for future delivery have gone up from about 30 cents a pound early in the year to as much as 57.5 cents. On the London Metal Exchange, prices for copper for immediate delivery have gone from 29 V 2 cents to as high as 65 cents. Early this year, when prices on the London Metal Exchange began to move upward, several large copper producers announced that they would continue to offer copper for 2 9 1 / 2 cents a pound. Later, their prices also moved upward, but far less than those on the exchange. (The difference between producers' quotes in the U.S. and overseas reflects the 1.7 centper-pound U.S. tariff.) Copper producers have managed so far to resist much of the upward pressure on prices. Their experience of 34
C&EN
NOV. 2 3,
1964
1955 and 1956, when delivered prices in the U.S. went from 36 to 46 cents a pound, is too recent and painful to ignore. At that time, copper ran into strong competition from aluminum, which can be substituted for copper in many electrical applications. Copper industry fingers were badly burned then as customers simply designed copper out of and aluminum into their products. With aluminum ingot prices now about 2 4 1 / 2 cents a pound and copper prices at about their present levels, copper producers believe they can avoid a repeat of that experience. But producing companies are not in complete control of prices. Chile, for instance, sets by law the export price for copper—35 cents a pound now. Copper is the foundation of Chile's economy, as William A. Meissner, Jr., director of the copper division of the Business and Defense Services Administration in the Department of Commerce, points out, and the source of 65% of its foreign exchange. An increase of only 1 cent per pound in copper prices adds about $7 million to its annual income. Thus, Chileans would like to see prices go higher. Production. Last year, according to the Bureau of Mines, 56 nations had copper mines in operation. But 83.5% of the world's total of 5.2 million tons of recoverable copper came from the eight top producers. U.S. mine output, the world's largest, accounted for about 2 3 % of the total. Following the U.S., in order of mine output, are the U.S.S.R., Chile, Zambia, Canada, the Republic of the Congo, Peru, and Japan. In many of these countries, mine, smelter, and refinery capacity is being expanded. In the U.S., Kennecott is expanding refinery capacity by 100,000 tons a year in Utah (to be completed in 1967) and 21,000 tons a year in New Mexico (to be completed in 1966). In Chile, Anaconda is completing refinery expansion at Potrerillos. Also in Chile, the Chilean National Mining Enterprise has started to test its new smelter, which has a capacity for 450 tons of ore a day. The smelter and an associated refinery to be completed early in 1966 are in Las Ventanas. Looking ahead to 1965, the copper industry's chief concern is in keeping prices competitive. The tight supply situation, it believes, is easing and will end soon, as customer inventories return to normal levels.
French Industrialist Asks for Liberalized U.S. Tariffs There is concern in the minds of European industrialists over differences in size and differences in tariffs of the chemical industries of Europe and the U.S. Total chemical sales of the European Economic Community (EEC) are less than half of U.S. chemical sales for about the same population. EEC chemical exports account for 15% of its total sales; only 6% of U.S. chemical sales are exported. Other disparities between the chemical industries of Europe and the U.S., pointed out by Wilfrid Baumgartner, chairman of the board of France's Rhone-Poulenc, include sizable differences in the volume of trade of E E C and the U.S. with third countries. Mr. Baumgartner, who is a former French Minister of Finance, was speaking before a meeting of the American section of the Societe de Chimie Industrielle in New York City. Europe, though competitive in most world markets, is not competitive in the U.S., Mr. Baumgartner contends. Also, Europe treats products from other countries more liberally (tariffwise) than does the U.S. Though some U.S. tariffs are quite reasonable, others seem very heavy. On organic chemicals, in particular, U.S. tariffs seem excessive. The impact of such tariffs, for example, cannot enter into calculations of average tariffs since, Mr. Baumgartner says, they are so high that they kill outright U.S. imports of chemicals to which they are applied. The impact of such high customs duties (ranging between 25 and 4 5 % ad valorem) is heightened by what may be called "administrative protectionism." This is the phrase Mr. Baumgartner uses for American selling price. ASP, he says, often results in doubling, or even trebling, the real customs duty. He points out that the U.S. Tariff Commission says that 95.4% by quantity and 76.8% by value of U.S. imports of organic chemicals are assessed under ASP. Size. ASP was instituted during World War I to protect the U.S. chemical industry while it developed. But, Mr. Baumgartner asks, has that goal not already been attained? "I am always struck by the difference in strength between the companies of your country and those of the European countries," he says. This difference is "flagrant." Its conse-
quences cannot be ignored. Where the extent of research or the volume of investments is concerned, American firms are in a strong position. What is true of the chemical industry is also true, even more so, in other industries, such as automobiles. Mr. Baumgartner says that Europeans believe that on account of the present imbalance, "it should be wise to tend at the very least toward an equalization of the respective protection, which means that for future negotiations America should resolve to lower, more than Europe, its tariff walls." The U.S. enjoys a prosperity and a power that have never been equaled, Mr. Baumgartner says. In a similar situation, last century, Great Britain and France followed a very liberal trade policy which benefited, at the same time, the world and themselves. If all of us are convinced of the fundamental truths of economic liberalism, he says, we should all create an atmosphere propitious to the exchange of products against products.
BRIEFS Union Carbide has formed an electronics department. Its manager is Malcolm H. Barnes, who will be responsible for the company's Kemet department (which makes electron tube parts and solid tantalum capacitors), the crystal products department (single crystal products and Linde synthetic rubies), and two subsidiaries, Korad Corp. (which develops and markets laser equipment) and Data Systems, Inc. (which makes computers ).
International Minerals & Chemical Corp. will increase production of monosodium glutamate by 50% to a total of 30 million pounds annually. The expansion, at San Jose, Calif., will cost more than $2 million, and will be completed next summer. This is IMC's second major increase in production of monosodium glutamate in two years.
Nuclear Data, Inc., a Chicago electronics firm, acquired Instrument and Development Products Co. in a straight stock transfer of 12,881 shares. Nuclear Data designs and manufactures multichannel analyzers
and signal averaging digital computers. Last year's sales totaled $3 million. IDP makes equipment for use in nuclear radiation instruments. IDP's sales average about $250,000 annually. IDP will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Vogt Manufacturing Corp., Rochester, N.Y., has reached preliminary agreement with the management of Allerton Chemical Co., also of Rochester, to acquire the latter firm. This acquisition will not include Brooks Research, Allerton's electronic subsidiary. Allerton is a supplier of paints and plastic coatings. Vogt concentrates its research activities mainly on plastics.
Humble Oil has organized an affiliate, Esso Production Research Co., to carry out exploration and production research for Humble's domestic operations and foreign affiliates of Standard Oil (N.J.). The new Houston company will assume the research previously handled by Humble's research groups and by Jersey Production Research Co., Tulsa, Okla. The latter will transfer essentially all of its research and engineering personnel to join Humble's existing research groups in Houston. The entire move should be completed by mid-1965.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., is now producing nitrosyl chloride at its specialty gas facilities in Allentown, Pa. Air Products is the sole producer in the U.S. of this liquefied gas. Nitrosyl chloride is used in the pharmaceutical industry and as an intermediate for organic synthesis in the plastics industry.
NEW FACILITIES Allied Chemical Corp. will build a several million-dollar sulfuric acid plant in Hopewell, Va. The plant, with a capacity of 150,000 tons, will be adjacent to the company's caprolactam operation, a large consumer of sulfuric acid. The plant is scheduled to be completed in late 1965.
AEC's Argonne National Laboratory will build a major research facility at Idaho Falls, Idaho, to help determine the long-range potentialities of pluto-
nium fuel in advanced nuclear power systems. To be known as Zero Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR), the $3 million project will be used in research on fast breeder reactors which convert nonfissionable uranium-238 or thorium to fissionable plutonium or uranium-233. The contract has been awarded to Mason & Hanger-Silas Mason Co., Inc., Lexington, Ky., and Jacksonville, Fla. Construction is planned to start in late 1965.
Cowles Chemical Co. will build an anhydrous sodium metasilicate production unit to double capacity at its Joliet, 111., plant. The Cleveland, Ohio, company has just begun construction of another metasilicate plant in Pittsburg, Calif. (C&EN, Nov. 16, page 31). Cowles expects production to start early next spring, shortly after the on-stream target date for the California project.
Luminall Paints, Inc., will build a $1 million plant to produce Luminall's complete line of oil, latex, and water mixed paints and dry powder products. The 67,000-square-foot plant will consolidate the Chicago company's original plant and the former Great Lakes Oil Paint Manufacturing Co. plant under one roof. Luminall's consolidated net sales for the fiscal year ending September 1964 are approximately $9.1 million compared to $8.2 million in the previous year.
West Virginia Pulp and Paper Co. plans to build a new $1.5 million research center in Howard County, Md. Building will start in March 1965, with completion scheduled for the following September. The center will ultimately consolidate research activities now conducted in the Luke, Md., and Williamsburg, Pa., laboratories.
Sun Oil Co. will spend almost $4 million to add a reactor, a new deisobutanizer, and other major equipment to its high-octane gasoline production facilities at Toledo, Ohio. The new equipment, due to go on stream in November 1965, will permit the production of 6000 barrels of alkylate a day. The new reactor will nearly double the unit's capacity from its present 3600-barrel daily production. NOV. 2 3, 1964 C & E N
35
FINANCE
MAM
Du Pont's board of directors authorized distribution of one half share of General Motors common stock for each share of Du Pont stock, payable Jan. 4 to stockholders of record Nov. 24. Du Pont also declared a yearend dividend of $2.75 per share, payable Dec. 14, bringing total dividends for the year to $7.25. Dividends of $7.75 per share were paid in 1963. The stock distribution of about 23 million shares is the third and final distribution by Du Pont in compliance with the final judgment in the Du Pont-General Motors antitrust case. This judgment, entered March 1, 1962, provides for divestiture of 63 million shares of GM stock, previously owned by Du Pont, by Feb. 28, 1965.
Moiecuus OH A UNI MAT?
Even t h o u g h Unimat can t u r n , d r i l l , mill a n d saw parts so small y o u need tweezers to handle t h e m , m a k i n g a molecule, actual size, is quite impossible. But molecule models are made in p r o t o t y p e by Science Teaching Aids Co., of Pell Lake, Wisconsin, w h o are famous f o r their D N A " w o r k i n g molecule m o d e l " . Paul D z i u l a k , biologist (in photo) says, " O u r w o r k is very unusual. O u r b i o l o g i c a l cell models are made of metals, h a r d plastics, epoxies. N a t u r e seldom makes a n y t h i n g in true r o u n d , square or flat shapes. That's w h y we use Unimat in our design shop . . . because of its a b i l i t y to tackle so many unusual jobs in m a c h i n i n g , c u t t i n g , polishi n g impossible shapes." Isn't it time to put Unimat to w o r k for you too? A special b u l l e t i n describing the Science Teaching Aids Co. shop, unusual Unimat applications a n d latest tech l i t e r a t u r e w i l l be sent free on request.
Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. has declared a year-end extra dividend of $1.00 per share in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 80 cents. Both are payable on Dec. 31. Net income per share for the first three quarters of 1964 was $4.18, compared to $1.96 in the first nine months of 1963.
W r i t e t o a a y to
AMERICAN EDELSTAAL INC.
CANADIAN EDELSTAAL
(or)
Dept. K-J4 350 B r o a d w a y N e w York 10013
47 Granger Ave. Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Organic Chemicals
EASTMAN
may be available in
larger-than-laboratory quantities even if they aren't in our catalog. IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU NEED, ASK Distillation Products Industries, Rochester, N.Y. 14603.
These compounds 1917
were added to the list on
a,a'-Dichloro-o-xylene MP 54-56° C G H 4 (CHoCl) o . . . MW 175.06
8975
8898
4.85 16.75
Dimethyl 5-Aminoisophthalate MP 180-183° . 25 g.
2.50
5-NHoCcH 3 -l,3- (COOCH 3 ) 2 . . • MW 209.20
7.30
N,N-Dimethyl-o-nitroaniline BP 122-124°/5 mm Dimethyl Succinate MP 18-19° CH3OCOCH2CH2COOCH3...MW 146.14
9052
14.20
25 g.
( C H 3 ) 2 N C ( ; H 4 N 0 2 . . . M W 166.18
9050
25 g. $ 4.20
100 g.
[(C 2 H 3 ) 2 NOH] 2 (-COOH) o . . . M W 268.31
6422
Nov. 23,1964: 100 g.
N,N-Diethylhydroxylamine Oxalate MP 140-143°
Suberonitrile BP 149-152°/9 mm NC(CH 1 >)«CN...MW 136.20
100 g.
25 g.
4.45
100 g.
15.15
25 g.
4.15
100 g.
14.00
5 g.
4.00
25 g.
16.05
Prices subject to change without notice.
api Distillation Products Industries is a division of Eastman Kodak Company
36
C&EN
NOV.
2 3,
1964
United States Borax & Chemical Corp.'s income for the year ending Sept. 30 was $8.9 million, an increase of 2 1 % over the previous year. Per share dividends were $2.00 compared with $1.62 in 1962-63. U.S. Borax had sales of $89.7 million in its 1963-64 fiscal year, 10% higher than in the 1962-63 period.
Minerals and Chemicals Phillip Corp. increased its earnings to $8.6 million in the first nine months this year, up 18% over the corresponding period last year. Per share earnings rose from $1.39 to $1.71. Third-quarter earnings advanced 40% to 63 cents per share over the comparable quarter last year.
American Metal Climax, Inc., increased its third-quarter 1964 earnings 40% over the same period in 1963. Third-quarter earnings were $9.4 million, or 62 cents per common share. Earnings for the first nine months this year were $31.0 million, or $2.06 a share, 2 5 % higher than in the corresponding period last year.
