GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SULPHUR
Italy and Sicily.
—Italy had practically a monopoly of the world’s sulphur supply until 1904, when large-scale production began in the United States. The importance of sulphur as a world mineral began with the use of gunpowder in the fourteenth century. Considerable export trade was early developed and has been of increasing importance since 1830. Ninety per cent. of the Italian production has come from the Island of Sicily.
The sulphur-bearing district of Sicily is a central belt running across the island, extending about 100 miles east and west and 50 miles north and south. The richer deposits are scattered as irregular lenses or basin-like bodies, in this extensive area. The deposits of commercial value are of sedimentary type, occurring as stratified beds or sheets in limestone, associated with gypsum and bituminous marl. There are generally three or four sulphur-bearing layers, separated by a few feet of barren rock. The average thickness of the sulphur beds is from 10 to 15 feet, although in a few places they run as high as several hundred feet. The sulphur occurs as incrustations, pockets, or thin bands intimately associated with the limestone. The average sulphur content of the ore mined is from 20 to 25 per cent., with a range from 8 to 50 per cent.; and in a few places it reaches up to 90 per cent. Estimates as to the reserves of ore vary greatly, but seem to indicate that there is from 40 to 60 million tons of ore still unmined, which will average about 23 per cent. of sulphur content.
Mining has been mostly by hand and the ore brought out on the backs of men. A few mines had modern hoisting machinery and trams. The shortage of labor during the war has increased the introduction of modern appliances in some of the newer mines. With increasing depth the cost of mining has increased to the point where American sulphur can compete in European markets.
The methods of extracting the sulphur from the ore have also been extremely crude and wasteful, but in the last few years better types of ovens have been installed, giving a much higher recovery through improved distillation and the use of superheated steam for melting the sulphur.
The sulphur industry of Sicily furnishes a notable example of an attempted commercial control which developed into a governmental control of the industry. The recent history of the industry falls into three periods. The first extends from 1875 to 1895 and is characterized by a rapid increase in production, from 200,000 to 400,000 tons a year, with a corresponding decrease in selling price from $25 a ton to as low as $12 a ton. It was a period of overproduction, due to the ease with which shallow mining could be carried on and to the abundant supply of cheap labor available. These conditions resulted in the development of a great number of small mines, whose competition reduced prices. The second period, from 1896 to 1906, begins with the formation of the Anglo-Sicilian Sulphur Co., financed by English capital, which entered into a five-year agreement with the principal producers, which was later extended for an additional five years. It was primarily a marketing organization, formed by the union of Italian and English interests to control production, stabilize the industry, and maintain prices. It eventually controlled from 75 to 85 per cent. of the industry. All sulphur was purchased at about $16 per ton f.o.b. ship and the selling price remained practically stable during the ten-year period, at an average of $18 to $19 per ton. In spite of efforts to restrict production, the annual output reached 550,000 tons during most of this period. At the same time the higher prices maintained for sulphur had stimulated the use of pyrite as a substitute. In order to maintain prices under these conditions the excess production had to be purchased and stored, so that in 1906 a stock of over 500,000 tons of sulphur had been accumulated in Sicily. Toward the end of this period large-scale production began in the United States (1904). In 1903 the United States produced less than 10,000 tons of sulphur and was Italy’s best customer, buying over 170,000 tons in that year. Within three years the United States was producing more than enough to supply its own needs and was accumulating a large reserve stock. The sudden loss of the American market and the threat of competition in other markets brought on a crisis in the Sicilian industry, which was intensified by the large number (30,000) of people employed in the industry. At the termination of the agreement with the Anglo-Sicilian company (July 31, 1906) steps were taken by the Italian government to control the situation. The third period, from 1906 to the present, is one of government intervention and control of the industry. All the producers were compelled to join a company called the “Consorzia Obbligatoria per l’Industria Solfiefera Siciliana,” organized under a law passed in the Italian Parliament. The organization was managed by a commission appointed by the government, and had complete control over exports and prices. All sulphur had to be sold at fixed price to this organization. A minimum interest was guaranteed on the capital invested; local freight rates on sulphur for export were reduced; sulphur stocks accumulated by the Anglo-Sicilian company were taken over; and a campaign of price-cutting was started in the American market, which resulted in a decrease of several dollars a ton in the selling price of sulphur. A market agreement was soon reached and prices recovered. A number of the smaller mines closed down and a law was passed controlling and restricting the granting of new concessions. Production declined to 350,000 tons in 1913. At the opening of the war the principal United States producer was preparing to enter into more active competition with Italian sulphur, particularly in the French markets. As a result of the war, Italian production dropped to only 180,000 tons in 1917, largely due to labor shortage; about half of the surplus stocks were used up, leaving only 160,000 tons on hand at the end of 1917; and prices increased so that refined sulphur sold at about $80 per ton and inferior grades at $55 per ton, f.o.b. Sicilian ports. The increasing cost of producing sulphur, due to deeper mining and increased labor costs, will make it difficult to compete in the European markets with the greatly expanded production of the cheaper American article.
Sulphur has been produced in several districts in the Italian peninsula, particularly Romagna, Marches, Campania and Calabria. The yield from these districts has been decreasing in recent years and has generally been only from 25,000 to 30,000 tons. The sulphur content of the ores ranges from 20 to 30 per cent. The deposits are of limited extent and are being mined at greater depths. The production has been largely used for local agricultural purposes, in preparations for use against vine diseases.
The United States.
—Until 1904, the production of sulphur in the United States was considerably less than 10,000 tons per year and the bulk of our requirements had to be met by import from Sicily. From 1904 to 1914 the United States produced enough for its own use and at the end of this period was supplying Canada, had begun to actively enter the French and German market, and in addition had accumulated a reserve stock, in the hands of the producers, of approximately one million long tons. Figures recently made public in connection with litigation over patent rights show that half of this stock was accumulated in a single year, 1912, when production reached 790,000 long tons, of which only 300,000 tons was marketed and the balance of 490,000 tons went into storage. The United States production has exceeded that of Italy since 1912, although the sales have been less, because sulphur was being withdrawn from stocks in Italy while stocks in the United States were being increased. The net effect of the war was a four-fold increase in the amount of sulphur sold in the United States, without any reduction in stocks; while in Italy production fell off 50 per cent. and stocks on hand were reduced by the same percentage.