BRITISH ALUMINIUM PROGRESS
'while the non-ferrous metals, copper, tin, lead and zinc, have their normal ups and downs as the trade of the world grows or shrinks, one of the outstanding features of the last few years has been the steady growth in the consumption of aluminium. Mr. R. W. Cooper's speech at the meeting of the British Aluminium Company on Tuesday was once again mainly an account of a rapidly growing demand for the company's metal alone and in alloy with other metals. He found the uses for aluminium in the domestic field, as a pack- ing material, in architecture, in electricity, in road transport and in aircraft all expanding: He reported on a very important potential consumption of aluminium as an alloy in certain corrosion-resisting steels, the annual production of which is so large that the demand for aluminium for this purpose might become considerable, even though the percentage of aluminium contained in the alloy is small.
With this background Mr. Cooper had no hesitation in forecasting that this year's business is likely to be maintained. if not increased, and that the outlook for the immediate future of the industry can be regarded as satisfactory. He pointed out that the company last year enjoyed only part of the benefit of its programme of capital expansion. The present pro- grammes of expansion at Lochaber and at Burntisland arc, however, now completed.
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