811.6354/577½
Memorandum by Mr. Roy Veatch of the Office of the Adviser on International Economic Affairs
[Washington,] December 15, 1939.
Mr. Sumerscale called to report that the British Embassy at Washington had been instructed to make the following observations with respect to tin:
- 1.
- In view of the fact that all of the tin being produced currently in the world is required to meet current consumption requirements, purchases by the United States Government for reserved stock purposes tend to create additional competition for the available tin and probably will result in advancing tin prices. It is suggested, therefore, that this Government postpone its tin purchases until such time as supplies become easier.
- 2.
- As to the suggestion that some 50 percent of the stocks held by the Buffer pool (under the control of the International Tin Committee) be held in the United States, reference is made to the fact that the Buffer pool is for all practical purposes exhausted at the present time, and that there is little possibility that supplies can be set aside for the pool in the very near future. “If and when” the pool is reconstituted, a part of the reserve will “almost certainly” be held in the United States.