Table [ ]: Source: Hyde
If we estimate the average monthly refined copper production based on
the and assume that the whole decline in copper use arose from the
decline in shipments, the later in November 1929 compared to October
amounted to around 30% while the whole use of copper in the production
of electric products constituted only 22.5%, according to Hyde. It may
thus be claimed that the November 1929 decline in refined copper
shipments may have been part of some broader economy-wide decline rather
than primarily a symptom of a cluster of troubled industrial
electrification projects.
It should be noted, however, that all the uses listed by Hyde add up
only to 67.6%, and it is unclear what other uses at the time could have
consumed the remaining 33.4%. This suggests that Hyde’s data may
underestimate the share of some uses. In addition to this, November and
December 1929 saw a dramatic reduction in automobile production which
will be considered in more detail in section [ ]. The average
monthly automobile production in these months was around 2.45 times
lower than in October.