IX. A, 1 West and Cox: Philippine Cement Raiv Materials 81 



The import duty of 32 centavos (16 cents United States cur- 

 rency) per 100 kilograms gross weight (about 59 centavos per 

 barrel), landing and importers' charges, lack of competition, etc. 

 have resulted in selling prices which ranged from 4.36 pesos in 

 1907 to 6.68 pesos in 1912 per barrel for large contracts. The 

 price named in one of the recent contracts awarded by the Bureau 

 of Supply was 5.55 pesos. 



A comparison of local prices with those of the United States 

 shows one of the principal causes of the high cost of concrete 

 construction work in the Philippines. According to the report 

 of the United States Geological Survey, the average factory price 

 of gray Portland cement for 1912 was 1.62 pesos per barrel in 

 bulk at the mills and including only the labor cost of packing. 

 During the last two years the average price of cement in the 

 United States, with few exceptions, has been remarkably low, 

 in many instances scarcely above the cost of production, and a 

 selling price of from 1.20 to 1.50 pesos has been customary for 

 years at some of the large plants.^ Except where natural gas 

 or waste gases from large blast furnaces are available as fuel, a 

 price of 2 pesos per barrel is as low as will yield a reasonable 

 profit. In spite of these comparatively low prices and the fact 

 that cements from the United States can be imported into the 

 Archipelago duty free, the cost of transportation is so great that 

 American cements do not compete in the Philippine market. 



In 1905 McCaskey - gave analyses of, and called attention to, 

 the unusually high grade of limestone obtained from the Binan- 

 gonan deposits of Laguna Province, Luzon, and suggested that 

 in all probability it would serve as an excellent material for the 

 purpose of Portland cement manufacture. In 1908 special con- 

 sideration was given * to the volcanic tuff which occurs very 

 abundantly in the neighborhood of Manila as a possible cement 

 siliceous material, and in a later article ^ the possibilities of 

 manufacturing Portland cement from the deposits of shales, 

 clays, and limestones occurring in different parts of the Islands 

 were discussed. After considering the analyses of characteristic 

 specimens of cement materials and the general geological con- 

 ditions of the localities from which they were obtained, Pratt '^ 

 has pointed out the various locations which seem to be practical 



'Cem. & Eng. News (1913), 25, 36. 

 "Sixth Annual Rep. P. I. Min. Bur. (1905), 20. 

 'Cox, Alvin J., This Journal, Sec. A (1908), 3, 391. 

 'Idem, This Journal, Sec. A (1909), 4, 211. 

 'Min. Res. P. I. for 1911, Bur. Sci. (1912), 45. 



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