Copper Shortage

Archive Report

Mounting Concern Over Shortage of Copper

The Heavy Drain upon American reserves of virgin copper which resulted from demands of the munitions industries during the war has been extended into the postwar period by booming industrial production. Copper ranks second only to iron as an industrial raw material. An acute shortage of the metal is now in prospect for mid-1947; it threatens to slow the output of certain manufactured articles now in wide demand, to curb expansion of electrical utilities to meet the growing need for power, and to force many small, independent fabricators of copper and brass products to curtail their operations.

A report to Congress by the Federal Trade Commission, Mar. 11, 1947, said: “The copper situation is particularly serious, not only because of ...

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