RHODESIAN COPPER DEAL
The Rhodesian Copper producers have now confirmed their arrangement to supply a large proportion of their output to the Government at prices approximating to those ruling immediately before the war. The Canadian producers have already announced that they have entered into a similar arrangement. It has also been disclosed that the French are taking their copper from the Chilian and Belgian groups on the basis of a price at present equivalent to 121 cents. f.a.s. New York. This does not tell the investor all he needs to know about the earning capacity of copper- producing companies in war, but at least it gives him a yard-stick. Copper-producing companies within the Empire will be selling at a price only slightly below the prices at which the British Metal Control sells to consumers, viz., £46 a ton for blister copper and £51 for electrolytic. The Americans, who control the South American industry, and the Belgians, represented in this market chiefly by Tangan- yika Concessions, who are important shareholders in Union Miniere, will be selling largely on the basis of the American price, which is at present equivalent to around £69 los. a ton for electrolytic.
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