106 MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1941


available for the first 9 months of the year only; data for the last quarter
are confidential. A tremendous gain in imports and a severe drop in exports,
however, are shown by the 9-month totals. Enough data are at hand to indicate
that new copper was withdrawn from supply for domestic consumption in 1941
at a considerably higher rate than ever before. The record consumption, of
course, was a direct result of the present World War, in which, however,
the United States did not become an active participant until December 1941.
The entry of this ~country into the war and the successive announcements
of new and larger armament plans foretell new consumption records in 1942
and 1943. The recording of these tonnages as domestic consumption is accurate
only insofar as consumption applies to the use of refined copper and primary
fabricated shapes Much of the metal, particularly in 1940 and 1941, actually
was used in foreign countries, for after its manufacture here into war and
industrial products it was or will be shipped abroad
 The following table shows the computation of apparent domestic consumption
of new copper for 1937 to 1940. It should be noted that exports and stocks
include some refined secondary copper that cannot be determined separately
and that actual consumption of new copper would differ from the figures shown
in the table by the changes in consumers' stocks.

New refined copper withdrawn from total year's uupply on domestic account,
1937—41,
in pounds

1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
Total supply of new copper~ Stock at beginning of year.~
Total available supply
Copper exported 2        Stock at end of year       
Withdrawn on domestic account              
2, 148,602,618
220,000,000
1,588,434,754
358,000,000
2,051, 558, 228
362,000,000
2,763,786,187
191,000,000
(1)
183,000,000

2,368,602,618
1,946,434,754
2,413,558, 228
2,954,786,187
(1)

620, 791,029
358,000,000
770, 446,945
362,000,000
792,812, 995
191,000,000
754,215,509
183,000,000
8155,648,305
155,000,000

978, 791,029
1, 132,446,945
983, 812,995
937, 215,509
(1)

1,389,811,589
813,987,809
1, 429, 745,'233
2,017, 570,678
(1)
 I Bureau of Mines not at liberty to publish, owing to confidential nature
of foreign trade figures for last 3 months of year.
 2 Includes refined copper in ingots, bars, rods, or other forms.
 8 Figures cover January to September, inclusive.


INDUSTRIAL USE OF COPPER

 The annual figures of the American Bureau of Metal Statistics on consumption
of copper, by uses, for 1937 to 1941, inclusive, are shown in the following
table. No other similar data are avs~ilable in as complete detail. Figures
for 1941 confirm the indications that consumption in that year towered above
all previous annual totals— it was 50 percent above 1940 and 38 percent
above the previous record established in prosperous 1929. Before the war
began in 1939, the pr'ssibility of a~ain equaling the 1929 record appeared
to be reserved for the very distant future. The magnitude of the program
for tanks, ships, and airplanes, among other things, quickly changed previous
ideas regarding reouirements for copper.
 The American Bureau of Metal Statistics Year Book states that the absence
of information as to uses by arsenals, navy yards, and