FOREIGN COAL TRADE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 295, 7 September 1920, Page 5

FOREIGN COAL TRADE

UNDERSELLING GREAT BRITAIN BIG ORDER FROM SWEDEN "The statement that a Middlesbrough firm has just completed the sale of 110,000 tons of Australian coal for delivery to Sweden has been received by the general public with considerable surprise," remarks the London "Financier," "especially as the .price quoted, including freight Iter 12,000 Imitate, was .-£9 12s. (id. per ton, as against the price for English coal of ill 3s. Tho f.o.b. price of this Australian coal, was 22s Gd. per ton, whilst the pit-head .price in Great Britain is 31s. 3d. alone. A Press representative sought some onlightenment on this subject from a member of a firm of Australian coal-miM owners, and found that the facts wero even more remarkable than the statement given above indicated. "IT 225. 6d. per ton is the f.o.b. price obtained for the delivery, all I can say is that it is a very good price, especially when bunker coat at the present moment can bo obtained in Newcastle, New South Wales, for 18s. Gd. per ton, or nearly 13s. less than your pit-head price and over Is. less than the amount you nro paying in wages per ton.. "This shipment to Sweden is, I believe, only the beginning of many similar transactions. There have recently been inquiries from the Continent for over 500.000 tons of Australian coal." . "Aeked why in a country of lush wages the pit-head price of coal in Auktralin should be so much below that prevailing in Great Britain, the Press representative, was met with the laconic reply: 'You had better ask your miners.' "During 1919 8,031,551 tons wero raised in New South Wales at a cost at the pit-head of JH,i22,m, or just under 12s. 7d. per ton. This figure should be compared with 31s. 3d. per ton now, according to official figures, ruling as the pithead price in Great Britain. In 1013 tho pit-head price in New South Wales averaged 7s. 3d. per ton, so that tho increase between 1913 and 1919 amounts to 73.5 per cent. Tn 1913 the British pit-head price was 10s. lid., and in 1919 fSs. 7d. This shows an increase during flip same period of roughly 180 per cent. "It is tho mothod of payment to the. New South Wales miners that is probably the crux of tho whole matter. The system of piecework is rigidly adhered to in the New South Wales coalfield. Rates are fixed by a system of agreement and awards, and depend on selling price at the time, and vary according to conditions of seams and pliw» where the coal is mined. Thus, during December, 1919, tho scale of pav to' mincro varied from 3s. sd. to ss. 2d. per ton in the northern division, whilst tliat obtaining in the southern division was 2=. 9d. per ton. Assuming that the Australian miner is putting in a fair day's work at a fair wage, and is ns well off' as his British comrade-winch he is~ thorn is an obvious conclusion to be drawn from the system of paying by cii'fk which is \n operation In Ww B«Tl'i"CS. . ~ "Another important point 'in connection with the Australian coat trade was m«nHoned bv a promincnf Liverpool shipowner. It was to the elTeet that coal fvnir, the Antipodes was litfelv to bo furnished In increasing quantities to om ooaling editions on the Eastern Todies nnd wfflifl be quoted for bunkers at sue.n prices that it would continue to be more mul more sought after, spite 0? a slight inferiority in quality."