Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-13
DAMAGE TO CROPS
AFFECTING STEEL
Recovery in Business Is Re-
tarded by Drought Con-
ditionS in West.
b. the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. August Recovery
in steel business from the stagnation
of Midsummer undoubtedly has been
retarded by the uncertainty Of crop
damage caused by the. prolonged and
widespread drought, Iron Age will say
tomorrow In its weekly review Of the
industry.
Pending the gauging Of the effect
Of the losses on steel-consuming indus
tries dependent partly or wholly on
farm purchasing power" the review
states, "a renewed spirit Of caution has
developed generally. This has brought
a further decline in the volume Of new
business, consequent curtailment in
steel mill operating schedules and
broader price weakness.
steel production for the country at
large is not above So per cent this
week, compared with 81 per cent . week
ago. The Steel Corporation continues
to operate at about SO per cent, but
some of the larger independents are at
so per cent or less. Operations have
declined several points at Pittsburgh,
Chicago and in the valleys, while at
Cleveland there has been a rise Of 3
points, owing to a nr%derate gain in
orders from few automobile COM
panies.
Retail Sales Outlook.
with the major part Of automobile
| production conferred on low-priced cars,
| for which there Is ordinarily large
bat To-. ~ @sak
look for retail sales is clouded. Farm
machinery builders are checking UP to
ascertain how seriously low total re-
turns for farm products will restrict
their Fall activity, although some man
| ufacturers in this group are swinging
into larger output of tractors and COM
bines for foreign shipment.
Can manufacturers already face the
possibility of smaller packs of vegetable
crops, and moderate holdups Of tin plate
/ shipments have brought a decline to so
per cent in the output of this product
from an average slightly above that flg-
ure week ago. Wire fencing and gall
vanized sheets are adversely affected
| Meanwhile there are a few develop
ments of an encouraging character. Re-
sumption of automobile production on
a scale slightly above that of July has
| aided mills at Chicago and Cleveland in
| q small way, DuL There mas Deem no I'M
portant gains in takings Of steel by the
motor car industry. The farm ma
chinery builders, helped out by export
orders, are ordering steel little more
freely at Chicago and will step up pro-
duction above the low Midsummer rate,
notwithstanding the uncertainty in the
domestic market. Building construction
in the Chicago district Is contributing
to larger bookings o. structural steel,
with an increasing tonnage Of pending
! work.
Producers Seek Business.
with steel producers aggressively
seeking business to bloster up their de-
clining operations and with steel buying
exerting pressure for concessions, fresh
price weakness has developed in num-
! Der of products"
/; Fresh structural steel projects appear
ing in the past week reached total in
excess of 10000 tons, the largest since
the last week in June. Much Of the
new business consisted Of bridge con-
struction. Awards of fabricated struc-
| tural steel also were large, with q total
of $4,000 tons.
| A further reduction in Iron Age COM
posite prices brings that for finished
steel to 2.156 cents a pound, the lowest
since February, 1922. and that for pig
| iron to $16.88 a gross ton, the lowest
| since 1915,