The Alaska daily empire., 1921-10-10
United States Markets Sup- piled World During War
 What About Now?
BRITISH MILLS ARE
 ASSUMING ACTIVITIES
Believed United Kingdom Soon Be Heavy Importer
 of Iron and Steel.

u ' rcrt depression is whether the United States can regain her foreign markets, which consumed such q great amount of iron anA steel dur ing the war period.
 With recovery in the world ste trade and scme activity in British mills, this country is again apt to feel the demand for pig iron and semi-fnishe ed steel from England, which during the war reached such huge proportions. according to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. .f,si3
 The United Kingdom for long time has ranked among the largest importers Of iron and steel. as Well ..s being the second greatest eX
 r. rter of steel products. Prior U the war, when British steel exports were in excess of 4,000,00o tons q year imports of iron and steel were close to 2,o00,O00 tons, and in this trade the United States always had vluable share. Recently the rela- tive importance of British imports of steel. as compared with exports,
 has bccI somewhat greater than for
 merly so that the actual tonnage of irCn and steel imported to Britain
 in the 12 months ended June, 1921, totaling close to 1,400,0 900 tons, probably has equalled, if it has not exceeded, imports by any other
 country during the same period
 British imports always have in cluded a variety of products. but the chief items generally have been pig steel, which before the war about equaled in amount the exports of pig iron. Thus, for the three years
 1911-13, exports of pig iron, plus very small amount of billets, av
 craged 100000 tons a year, but
 were nearly offset by average yearly imports of about 1,060,000 tons of pig iron and semi-tinished steel. By
 far the larger part of this movement
 was of pig iron and emifinished steel, between Britain and European countries, imports of pig iron and
 semi finished steel being drawn
 mainly from Belgium. Germany.
 of pig iron, somewhat more widely
 distributed, nevertheless found their
 main markets on the Continent.
 Wartime needs and conditions al tered somewhat the relations of the different parts of the British steel industry, mainly with the result that capacity to turn out rolled products was increased more than
 capacity to make igots or pig iron. According to common estimates, the total pig iron capacity of the United Kingdom is now about $500, 900
 tons year.. ingot capacity is esti- mated to be close to 12.0OO,000 tons products is put as high as l3,000.O .OOO tons. Allowing for a reasonable amount of latitude in these esti- mates, it still is evident that full ingot output c>/ not be based on the domestic supply of pig iron; nor would local ingot output keep the rolling mills running at full capacity. These gaps can be bridged only by extensive use of scrap to supplement pig iron in the blast fur naces, or by importation of pig iron and scmi-finished steel on larger scaiethan formerly, in order to reach capacity production all around.
 In this condition which has raised the question, in some quarters, whether the British market for pig iron and billets will again reach large enough proportions to revive the demand for considerable sup plies from the United States. Such a 1 question leads only to pure specula- ton at the present time, because so far this year the total imports of pig iron and semi-tinished steel into the United Kingdom have been about 30 per cent below the pre- war rate, and the volume of ship ments from the United States to that market has dwindled to a very small fraction of what it was last year. ! June showed a total of only 1000 tons, and July none at all, as com pared with an average of 15,000 tons month last year shipped from the United States to British steel makers.
 Whether this trade can be revived to such an extent as to make it an important factor in United States exports of steel will depend largely | on the price at which the goods can be laid down in British ports in competition with nearby Continental producers, but it will depend in part also on the ability of Continental producers to fill British needs for pig iron and billets. Before the war the United States was able to sell Annually 150.0O0 to 100000 tons of raw and semi-tinished products in the British market. Prices are now more against the Ameri- can product than they were then, but price differences are gradually being narrowed. as among the chief competitors. Furthermore, with the