The United States normally smelts and consumes all its large production of zinc ores and does not enter foreign markets to any extent. Small amounts of zinc concentrates are brought in from Mexico and Canada to be smelted in bond. During the war,--when the Allies were cut off by enemy operations from the customary Belgian and German supplies of spelter, and by shortage of ships from Australian zinc ores,--Australian, Spanish, Italian, and other ores were imported into the United States, and large quantities of spelter were exported from this country to Europe. Mine and smelter capacities were greatly increased, over-production ensued, and with the cessation of hostilities many plants were obliged to curtail or cease operations. The United States has now about 40 per cent of the zinc-smelting capacity of the world. For the present at least the capacity is far in excess of the domestic requirements.
Before the war German control of the international zinc market was even stronger than in the case of lead. The German Zinc Syndicate, through its affiliations, joint share-holdings, ownership of mines and smelters, and especially through smelting and selling contracts, controlled directly one-half of the world's output of zinc and three-fourths of the European production. It regulated the Australian exports by means of long-term contracts, and had considerable influence in the United States. To some extent it was able to so manipulate the market that zinc outside the syndicate was also indirectly controlled. During the war political jurisdiction was used by the Allied countries to destroy this German influence.
In the United States the principal zinc-producing regions are the Joplin and adjacent districts of Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, furnishing about one-third of the country's output; the Franklin Furnace district of New Jersey, and the Butte district of Montana, each yielding about one-sixth of the total supply; and the Upper Mississippi Valley district of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois, the Leadville district of Colorado, and the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho, each producing between one-tenth and one-twentieth of the total. Smaller quantities are produced in Tennessee, New Mexico, Nevada, and several other states.