February 5, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 287 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. COAL. During last week 96,087 tons of coal and 2,332 tons of coke were despatched from Tyne Dock, a decrease of 93,627 tons of coal and an increase of 2,049 tons of coke when compared with the shipments for the corresponding week of last year- The Dunston clearances amounted to 47,862 tons of coal and 3,512 tons of coke, a decrease of 4,375 tons of coal, and an increase of 115 tons of coke. The Blyth exports aggre- gated 61,721 tons of coal and coke, a decrease of 29,503 tons. Thus, the shipments from the three places mentioned totalled 211,514 tons, an increase of 25,864 tons when compared with those of the previous week, which, in their turn, showed an advance of 19,690 tons on the week "before —a gratifying evidence of the revival of the local coal trade. The British Admiralty is stated to be negotiating for quantities of Durham coal, presumably for shipment to French ports in pursuance of the Government’s undertaking that the railways and industrial enterprises of France shall be adequately supplied with fuel. Details of the business are not likely to be made public, however. Meanwhile, a good deal of private enquiry for shipment to French ports is stated to have been withdrawn, owing to the congestion of shipping at the ports of discharge and the statement that the vessels commandeered by the Admiralty are to be given preferential facilities for unloading. These enquiries, it is believed, are certain to recur at a later date, so that the business will not be altogether lost. Details of the Swedish State Bailways’ contracts for steam coals, for delivery up to July, show the following allotments.-—For shipment to Stockholm, 20,000 tons Lambt on-Hetton, at 34s. 4d. per ton, c.i.f., delivery from April to July ; Norr- koping, 10,000 tons, ditto, 33s. 6d.; Stugsund, 10,000 tons ditto, 33s. 4d., April-July; Gothenburg, 30,000 tons Lambton at 30s. 9d., 5,000 tons Hordenat 30s. 7d., 6,000 tons Sherburn at 30s. 5|d.; Uddevalla, 2,000 tons Blyth primes, 29s. 10|d.; Helsingborg, option Malmo, 10,000 tons Blyth primes, option Durhams, option Derby shires, 29s. 9d. (excluding war risk), and 7,000 tons American at 2'60 dols., f.o.b. Philadelphia; ______ 5,000 tons Fifeshire, 13s. 6d., f.o.b., February-June; 10,000 tons Hastings-West Hartley, 13s. 8d., f.o.b., February-June; 11,000 tons Broomhill, 13s. 9d., f.o.b., March-June; and 5,000 tons Durham steams, option Blyth primes, 14s., f.o.b., February. Where not otherwise stated, the prices are c.i.f. Out of the total allotment of 131,000 tons, therefore, the order for about 119,000 tons has come to this district, leaving a residue of 7,000 tons American and 5,000 tons Scottish coal. There is still a balance of 44,000 tons not arranged for. Most of the local business has been arranged through Swedish merchants, although three Tyneside firms have participated. The c.i.f. prices are “ a bit of a gamble,” but the f.o.b. figures are regarded as being quite satisfactory. It is stated that most of the coals will be carried in Swedish or Danish bottoms. The Bergen gasworks want offers this week of 25,000 tons of Holmside or Wear special gas coals for delivery up to October. Wear gas specials are stated to have been sold for delivery over this year at 13s. 6d. per ton f.o.b., but higher prices are now asked by some of the ■collieries. Some 10,000 tons of Durham coking bests for prompt shipment to an Italian ironworks are being enquired for. The prompt coal market has been greatly helped during the last few days by an improvement in the supply of tonnage, and the fact that coal freights appear to have received a check in their upward march. At the time of writing there is a brisk enquiry, and prices are tending upwards. F.o.b. quotations for prompt shipment have varied as follow on the week:—Best Blyth steams are stronger; Blyth seconds, 3d. advanced; Tynes, 6d. increased; special smalls, 3d. dearer; gas bests, 3d. to 6d. more; seconds, ditto ; Northumbrian unscreened bunkers, 6d. higher ; foundry coke, Is. reduced; blastfurnace, ditto; and gas coke, 6d. increased. Other descriptions of fuel are vrnaltered. Prices f.o.b. for prompt shipment. Steam coals :— Best, Blyths (D.C.B.) ... Do. Tynes (Bowers,&c.) Secondary, Blyths Do. Tynes (Hastings or West Hartleys) ... Unscreened Small, Blyths :.... Do. Tynes Do. specials Other sorts:— Smithies Best gas coals (New Pelton or Holmside) Secondary gas coals (Pelaw Main or similar) Special gas c?als Unscreened bunkers, Durhams Do. do. Northumbrians Coking coals Do. smalls House coals Coke, foundry Do. blast-furnace Do. gas Current prices. 13/9-14/ 13/6 12/3-12/6 12/6-13/ ' 11/ -11/6 9/ 8/ - 8/6 10/ -10/6 11/ -11/6 12/6-13/ 11/6-11/9, 13/ 10/9-12/ 11/ -11/6 10/9-11/3 10/6 14/ -15/ 18/ -19/ 17/ 11/6-13/ L’stweek’s prices. 13/6-14/ 13/6 12/ -12/3 12/ -12/6 11/ -11/6 9/ 8/ - 8/6 10/ -10/3 11/ -11/6 ,12/3-12/6 11/ -11/6 13/ . 10/9-12/ 10/6-11/ 10/9-11/3 10/6 14/ -15/ 18/6-19/6 18/ 11/6-12/6 Last year’s prices. 14/ 14/ 11/9-12/ 11/9-12/ 11/ "12/ 6/9- 7/ 6/3 ' 7/6 12/6-13/ . 13/6-13/9 12/ -12/6 13/6 12/ -13/ 10/ -11/ 12/ -12/6 12/ 15/ -16/ 20/ -22/ 18/ -19/ 13/ -13/6 Sunderland. COAL. The exports from Sunderland last week amounted to .82,810 tons of coal and 3,685 tons of coke, as compared with 99,115 tons of coal and 240 tons of coke for the corresponding period of 1914, being a decrease of 16,305 tons of coal and an increase of 2,445 tons of coke. The coal market shows a decidedly better tone. Bather more tonnage appears to be offering in the freight market, thus affording merchants the chance of fulfilling prompt orders, whilst the shipping at the command of the collieries is also more plentiful, and shipments are proceeding more freely. The collieries have fair turns on hand, and the enquiry is quite good, so that at present there are prospects of a fuller trade. Prices are steadily held, and are inclined to improve. Best gas coals are firm, and secondary are steady, with better prices offering for special brands. Coking unscreened and coking smalls are also inclined to stiffen. Bunkers are in moderate request at unaltered prices. In the forward market enquiries are circulating freely, but producers are not anxious to commit themselves ahead, and are selling very cautiously, hence there is not much business doing over the year. Special Wear gas coals are said to have been sold at 13s. 6d., though an advance on this figure is demanded by some of the collieries. The Swedish State Bailways have placed their contract at prices that are considered quite satisfactory. The local coal placed is for Stockholm, 20,000 tons of Lambton or Hetton at 34s. 4d. c.i.f.; for Gothenburg, 30,000 tons Lambton or Hetton at 30s. 9d. free on rail, 5,000 tons Horden at 30s. 7d., and 6,400 tons Sherburn at 30s. 5^d.; for Helsingborg, Malmo or Narvik, 10,000 tons, with options Bly ths or South or East Hetton, at 29s. 9d., excluding war risk; for Norkopping, 10,000 tons Lambton or Hetton at 33s. 6d.; Stugsund or Storlein, 10,000 tons Lambton or Hetton at 34s. 4d., April to July. The following are nominal market quotations :— Prices f.o.b. Sunderland. Gas coals:— Special Wear gas coals Secondary do. House coals:— Best house coals Ordinary do Other sorts :— Lambton screened South Hetton do Lambton unscreened ... South Hetton do Do. treble nuts Coking coals unscreened Do. smalls Smithies Peas and nuts Best bunkers Ordinary bunkers Coke:— Foundry coke Blast-furnace coke (did. Teesside furnaces) ... Gas coke Current prices. 13/ 11/3 16/ 15/ 14/ 14/ • 10/9 10/9 13/6 10/4-1 10/ 13/ 13/6 12/ -12/3 10/6-10/9 19/6 18/6 12/6 L’stweek’s prices. 13/ 11/3 16/ 15/ 14/3 14/ 10/9 10/9 13/6 10/3 10/ 13/ 13/6 12/ 10/6 19/6 18/6 12/6 Last year’s prices. 14/ 12/6-13/ 17/6 16/6 14/6 14/6 13/ 13/ 15/9-16/ 12/6-13/ 12/3 15/ -15/6 16/ 13/6 12/9 22/ 18/ 13/6-14/ Mediterranean freights continue firm. Bay rates are easier. French, Channel and coasting ports are steady. Becent fixtures include: London Ils., Havre 18s. 6d., Bouen 19s. 6d., St. Nazaire 23s. 6d., Lisbon 25s. 6d., Bordeaux 24s., Bayonne 25s., Venice 45s., Algiers 25s. 9d., Gibraltar 24s. 6d., Genoa 37s., Civita Vecchia 37s. 6d., Leghorn 37s. 6d. Middlesbrough-on-Tees. COAL. Fuel keeps steady. With rather more tonnage available collieries report more business doing. The securing of tonnage on time charter by merchants will doubtless facilitate forward business. Under present conditions, with freights varying several shillings in a few days, even prompt business is difficult to put through. Deliveries of gas coal show shrinkage, but that is looked for at this season of the year. Best Durham gas coal is 12s. 3d. to 12s. 6d., and there is very little secondary quality on the market. The latter cannot well be bought at anything below Ils., and Ils. 3d. and upward is asked by many sellers. Special Wear gas is 13s. to 13s. 6d. Bunker coal is in good request. Ordinary Durhams run from 10s. 3d. to 10s. 6d. f.o.b., best kinds Ils. 3d. to 11s. 6d., whilst special is in the neighbourhood of 12s. 6d. Household coal is firm. Coking coal is rather quieter owing to a few coke ovens going out. Unscreened range from 10s. to 10s. 9d., and coking small from 9s. 6d. to 10s. 3d. Coke shows little change, but local consumption is rather less in consequence of several blastfurnaces blowing slack. Durham beehive blastfurnace coke, of average quality, is quoted 17s. 9d. to 18s. delivered at Teesside works. Foundry coke for ship- ment runs from 18s. to 19s. f.o.b. Gas-house coke is round about 12s. 3d. IRON. Iron and steel shipments from the Tees during the first month of the year were on a very small scale, amounting to only 19,110 tons, as compared with 21,480 tons in the previous month, and 89,451 tons in the month of January a year ago. All the iron cleared from the Tees went from Middlesbrough, there being no shipments from Skinningrove for the first time for many years. Of the pig iron loaded at Middlesbrough, 15,194 tons went foreign, and 3,916 tons to home customers. France was the best customer, receiving 6,221 tons, whilst Norway took 2,888 tons, and Holland 1,660 tons. Scotland, once the largest buyer of Cleveland pig iron, imported only 840 tons. The loadings of manufactured iron on the Tees amounted to 9,287 tons, of which 4,030 tons went abroad, and 5,257 tons coastwise, and those of steel reached 26,095 tons, 23,529 tons of which went foreign, and 2,566 tons to home customers. India was the largest buyer of both, taking 3,643 tons of manufactured iron, and 6,945 tons of steel. Values of Cleveland pig iron are somewhat unsteady, due to fluctuations in Middlesbrough warrants caused by outside speculative operations. No. 3 g.m.b. is 57s., No. 1 is 59s., No. 4 foundry 56s. 6d., No. 4 forge 56s., and mottled and white iron each 55s. 6d. Makers of east coast hsematite pig take a very firm stand, and are not at all keen to sell. They continue to complain of inadequate supplies of foreign ore, and declare that unless deliveries are good in the near future some furnaces will have to be blown out. , So far this month, however, supplies of imported ore have come to hand better than was expected. Mixed numbers of hasmatite are said to be obtainable in small odd lots from second hands at 90s., but the general quotation of makers is 95s., and at that figure business has been put through this week. Foreign ore prices are now based on as much as 32s. 6d. ex-ship Tees for rubio of 50 per cent, quality. Ore freights are very high, up to 20s. Bilbao- Middlesbrough being named. Finished iron and steel manufacturers are very busy, and orders are still coming in. Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Company have booked an order for rails for Melbourne. Prices all round are very firm. Cumberland. Maryport. COAL. There has been practically no change in the coal trade since last week, business in the export, manufacturing and home accounts all being fairly steady. The cross-Channel tonnage has not been so heavy, but all the available supply has been shipped. Irish merchants are stocking satis- factorily, and there is still a brisk demand for both house- hold and works fuel for the Irish market. The collieries are all working full time, but they are now so severely handicapped by the shortage of labour that it is extremely difficult to meet even the ordinary home requirements. In fact, owing to the decreasing outputs the demand has far outstripped the supply. The submarine raid on British merchant vessels in the Irish Sea on Saturday is naturally causing uneasiness in some quarters, and it would not be surprising if it had a detrimental effect on the coastwise ’ trade for some weeks to come. The closing of Belfast Harbour for the present is also a, serious matter, as the tonnage from Maryport to that port rarely falls short of 1,000 tons weekly. The shipments from Maryport to Ireland last week amounted to 4,475 tons, a decrease of 1,515 tons compared with the previous week. There were 1,020 tons shipped to Londonderry, 985 tons to Belfast, 480 tons to Carrickfergus, and 420 tons to Dublin, while the remaining cargoes were for White Abbey, Bangor, Donaghadee, Dromore, Larne, Ballycastle, Bamelton, Glenarm, and Dumfries. The tonnage from the various collieries was as follows:—Brayton Domain, 2,950 tons ; St. Helens, 1,245 tons; Flimby, 280 tons. During the month 74 steamers have sailed and the shipments for January have amounted to 21,555 tons. There were 11,120 tons shipped from Brayton Domain, 7,315 tons from St. Helens, 2,200 tons from Allerdale, and 1,020 tons from Flimby. The exports from Maryport during the week included 200 tons of benzol for BoUen from the new works at the head of the Senhduse Dock. The exports from Workington to Ireland included 980 tons of coal and 320 tons of pitch. Trade is very brisk at the coke ovens, and the whole of the output is absorbed by the local smelters. Prices of best Cumberland coal are firm, but unchanged. St. Helens best coal is quoted at 23s. 4d. per ton delivered, with seconds at 20s. per ton. Flimby best coal is quoted at 23s. 4d. per ton delivered, with best washed nuts at 21s. 8d. per ton. Other quotations are as follow:— Best Cumberland coal, at pit.....__ Flimby best coal „ ......__ Washed nuts „ ......__ Old St. Helens best coal „ ......__ Best house nuts ,, ......__ Oughterside best coal......______ Washed nuts....................... Best Cumberland coal, f.o.b. ______ Bunkers „ ...... Coal for gasworks____________............ Current prices. 20/6-21/ 20/ 19/2 19/2 .17/1 '' 20/. 18/4 14/6 13/6 14/6 L’st week’s prices. 20/6-21/ 20/ ' 19/2 19/2 . 17/1 ' 20/ ' 18/4 14/6 13/6 14/6 IRON. The Cumberland haematite iron trade is characterised by great activity ; prices are still soaring, and it is not certain that the limit of appreciation has yet been reached. Since last week there has been a further increase in values and warrants are now higher than they have been for the last 15 years. Bessemer mixed numbers are quoted at 101s. and 102s. per ton, with warrants at cash at 84s. per ton f.o.b. at the usual ports. Ferro-manganese . is firm at £12 per ton. Baw materials have also increased with a bound. Iron ore at the Cumberland mines has risen to 20s. to 30s. per ton according to grade, while east coast coke is now quoted at from 19s. 6d. to 23s. 6d. per ton. There are several reasons assigned for this extraordinary inflation of values. There is a shortage of labour at the iron ore mines, and a consequent scarcity of ore, and the Scotch and east coast smelters who are unable to procure their usual supplies of Spanish ore are taking much larger quantities of the Cumberland product. Then there is also a lack of men at the various works, and for some time the produc- tion has been quite inadequate for the dehiand. Bequire- ments have increased to such an extent during the past few weeks that two additional furnaces have been put in blast (one at Distington and one at the Derwent Works, Workington), and there is no doubt that a further inctease of production would take place if a plentiful supply of ore and labour were available. There is a brisk demand for all classes of Cumberland hsematites, smelters have good order books, and there is every prospect that the demand for special iron will be fully maintained while the war lasts. There are now 15 furnaces blowing in West Cumberland, and nine in the Furness, district. Both Barrow and Workington are making for the steel works, while a large proportion of the furnaces are employed in the manu- facture of special brands of iron, which is being consigned to the high-class steel makers at Sheffield and Birmingham. The steel trade is exceedingly busy;,full time is being worked at both Workington and Barrow, and there is every likelihood of full employment for some time to come. The Workington Iron and Steel Company have received, an order for 10,000 tons of rails for the Queensland Govern- ment Bail ways. The iron ore mines are all working regu- larly, but the outputs are far below, requirements. During the back end of the year some banking took place, but the banks are now all sold; owners are heavily sold up, and smelters are finding it extremely difficult to procure supplies to meet ordinary requirements. The exports from Workington last week included 280 tons of pig iron for Ellesmere Port, 350 tons of pig iron for Port Talbot, 381 tons of sleepers for Liverpool, and 320 tons of pig iron for Manchester. _______ _______ South-West Lancashire. COAL. There is nothing new from last week with regard to the course of trade in Lancashire. In the household trade far more orders are coming to hand than can be dealt with promptly. Prices were advanced 10d., and in some cases Is. per ton on February 1, this being the first alteration this winter. In some cases forges would call for greater supplies if they could get the material forward for the orders they have in hand. With regard to shipping the conditions generally are much the same as last reported, except that coal, if anything, is more difficult to get hold