Play Meter

Pool· tables' 'critical issue'-
the cost and availability of slate
By RAY E. TILLEY
Pool table manufacturers entered
1981 faced with a potential shortage
of slate, a chief ingredient in the
tables. Some table producers in
America had slowed or stopped
production for some periods of the
last few months of 1980. All of those
contacted by PLAY METER said
they foresaw a price rise on the table,
following "substantial" hikes in the
raw material cost.
Depending on the material
supplier, the cost of slate was rising
by 25 to 35 percent, said one
manufacturing official, although
negotiations are periodically made
on price of slate. The problem arose
out of northern Italy, where the main
quarry sources of slate are found .
The problem was compounded by
Italy's steep inflation rate, the
shortage of qualified labor to work in
the quarries, the allegedly limited
natural supply of the raw material
(which has comparatively little
mining activity in the United States),
and recent strikes into "bad veins" of
poor quality slate in Italian quarries,
said various coin-op industry
sources.
Competitive bidding against the
coin-op industry for the table
material, as by department store
marketers of home-use tables, also
apparently contributes to the hiked
price of available slate.
Richard Simon, executive vice
president of U.S. Billiards, compared
this economic situation to the
problem of energy sources. He
termed it a "worldwide bidding war"
for the material which also sees use
in the construction industry for
fireplaces, blackboards, tiles, and so
on.
He added that he was confident of
his own long-term supplier and had
built up sizeable inventories of slate
for the Amityville, New York pool
table manufacturer.
Others of the major table makers
saw no difficulty in their near-future
acquisition of slate-but the price
increase may soar "geometrically
upward" in 1981, as one put it.
Some table manufacturers have had production slowdowns when slate appeared
in short supply
Cartels
Some suggested the problem of
higher prices may be created by a
monopolistic "cartel" of 26
companies running the quarries
south of Genoa, Italy. Allegedly, new
quarries have been opened at San
Remo, where there lies "high-quality
slate for years to come." The
Ligurian slate syndicate ( Consorzio
Ardesiaco Ligure) in that area
reputedly controls 60 percent of the
slate sold-with the supposed aim
being the standardization of quality
of this export.
Once the slate is mined and ready
for sale by the several companies, "it
is phenomenal how close the pricing
is," said one source who wished not
to be identified. He suggested the
asking price for the raw product is
"fixed" in a way that is unlawful in the
U.S. economy.
But any alternative material will be
costly to come by, judged U.S.
Billiards' Simon and other firms'
representatives. And if an alternative
material were developed, Simon
commented, "you have the psycho-
logical factor of telling a guy he's
playing on something other than
slate. He may not do it."
Irving Kaye Co. partner Howard
Kaye said, "There's no way to know
if it's a real shortage or not." But a
shortage to the American manu-
facturers may be felt acutely in the
first quarter of 1981, he indicated. If,
in fact, the available raw material is
running out in Italy, then the price
increase by the supplier may be
"justified," he said.
Quarries in the Fontanabuono
area, a valley flanking the Gulf of
Tigullo, where the slate is mined, are
leased from the Italian government.
It appears the shortage is not with
the fossil material but rather with
labor to harvest the resource. The
Italians' social welfare system
apparently makes it more appealing
to take state-paid sick leaves than to
work the strenuous job of a quarry
worker, said one observer.
While the price rise for other
materials and transportation are
added inflation factors for the pool
table, an independent source
estimated the coming increase from