COPPER 



AND BRASS 



INDIAN COPPER AND BRASS 



Trade. 



Indications of 

 Famine. 



Fluctuations in 

 Price. 



Economic 

 Barometer. 



Imports. 



Price. 

 Decline. 



Brass. 



Sources of 

 Supply. 



is closed at night but open during the day. After twenty-four hours the 

 aragis poured off and mixed with water and left to evaporate until only the 

 zangdr remains. Copper acetate and the arsenite of copper are used 

 as insecticides and as colouring reagents. Zangdr yields a blue-green of 

 great beauty. [C/. Hoey, Monog. Trade and Manuf. N. Ind., 1880, 195.] 

 TRADE IN COPPER, etc. O'Conor (Rev. Trade Ind., 1898-9, 15) 

 says, "The trade in this metal follows closely the fluctuations in its 

 price and in the material condition of the people. In a time of 

 scarcity and famine the imports fall in a marked degree, the copper 

 utensils of the household being the first articles parted with in the 

 pinch of distress. For the time earthen utensils are substituted, 

 and the stock of copper in the braziers' shops accumulates. When 

 plenty reigns again, copper pots are in active demand and the import 

 trade is lively." The instability of price owing to the operation of 

 speculators is another factor which adversely affects the Indian 

 market. Any rise of price has an immediate effect in decreasing 

 the demand for copper and throwing the people back to earthenware 

 (Rev., I.e. 1901-2, 9.) O'Conor returns to this subject and observes, " So 

 much, however, is this trade a sort of economic barometer measuring 

 the presence or absence of pressure on the people, that the figures of the 

 trade merit attention : 



1896-7 



1897-8 



1898-9 



1899-1900 



1900-1 



Imports in Cwt. of Copper 

 240,648 1901-2 

 322,348 1902-3 

 251,301 

 90,846 



159,971 



1903-4 

 1904-5 

 1906-7 



193,822. 

 395,850 

 433,091 

 427,233 

 211,959 



To the returns quoted by O'Conor have been added (as a matter of 

 convenience) the figures for the years 1902 to 1906. 



Robertson (Rev. Trade Ind., 1904-5, 8) remarks, "After five years 

 of steady progress the imports of copper have fallen by 1-3 per cent, in 

 quantity and 2*7 per cent, in value." " Owing to the rise of prices in 

 Europe, caused by large demands for America and China, imports of both 

 unwrought and wrought copper were greatly restricted during the last 

 quarter of the year. The sensitiveness of the Indian demand to price 

 changes is always noticeable, for besides its increasing use for industrial 

 purposes, copper as the material for household utensils is an article of 

 great importance in the domestic economy of the people, and their ability 

 to satisfy their requirements is regulated first by their material prosperity, 

 which is principally a question of good or bad crops, and secondly, by 

 the commodity being cheap or dear." The ominous decline thus briefly 

 indicated became even more marked in 1905-6, when it amounted to 36-5 

 per cent, of the quantity and 32 per cent, of the value. [Of. Noel-Paton, 

 Rev. Trade Ind., 1905-6, 10.] 



But to obtain a full conception of the traffic it is necessary to add to 

 the above imports of copper those in brass of all kinds. These fluctuate 

 from 10,000 to 12,000 cwt., valued at from 6 to 8 lakhs of rupees. The 

 grand totals for the years 1902-7 thus became : 1902-3, 407,494 cwt., 

 valued at Rs. 2,03,28,458 ; 1903-4, 444,188 cwt., Rs. 2,23,37,805 ; 1904-5, 

 437,043 cwt., Rs. 2,16,65,708 ; 1906-7, 223,097 cwt., Rs. 1,46,88,046. 



The major portion of the imports come from the United Kingdom. 

 Of the supply (copper only), 433,091 cwt., secured by India in 1903-4, 



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