Evening star., 1934-04-11
BOOKINGS MOUNT
AT STEEL PLANTS
Volume Expands on News of
Price Advances-Out-
put Also Up.
BY the Associated Press.

by tne ASSoclateo Pre6S.
NEW YORK, April 1.-THE gen.
eral advance in iron and steel prices
had the effect of driving In an un-
usually large volume Of business In
some products. Bookings for the Sec
ond quarter are two to three times
those of the first quarter and con-
tract commitments as q whole are
fully so per cent larger than in the
initial period. Certain classes Of mills
already have made commitments for
all the steel that they can roll provided
that consumers take out the maxi
mum tonnages covered by their con-
tracts" says the Iron Age.
The raw steel requirements Of mills
are increasing, with ingot output up
to 491a per cent from 48K per cent
a week ago, and still further gains in
production are looked for during the
remainder of April and in May, bar
ring another outbreak Of labor diff
culties in the automobile industry.
"The settlement of the dispute at
the Motor Products Corporation. De-
troit, is heartening, but there con-
tinues to be danger Of a strike being
called by the Mechanics Educational
Society, rival of the American Feder-
alton OF Labor In the motor car in
dustry and sponsor of the tie-up Of
tool and die shops that occurred late
last year.
Rail Tonnage Larger.
IF action by this group is averted,
April output Of motor cars will prob
ably exceed 100000 units. General
Motors alone has schedule Of l65, ,346
cars, while Ford and Chrysler will
turn out 10000 to 100000 each. But
even if motor car production is inter-
rupted, the steel industry will suffer
less than would have been the case
a month ago, because Of the larger
proportion Of tonnage that is now
coming from the railroads and other
classes Of consumers.
While rail contracting will prob
ably be concluded shortly with the
placing OF orders by the Baltimore g.
Ohio and the Norfolk & Western, a
s1zable car and locomotive program,
including both the purchase of new
equipment and extensive repairs to ex-
isting rolling stock. remains to be car
r1ed out. The Great Northern has OBJ
talned a Government loan to finance
the repair of 6,374 freight cars. 1873
passenger cars and 3l6 locomotives.
The Milwaukee has a loan for the
purchase of rs passenger service cars
The Chicago Grea. Western is inouir-
ing for 500 freight cars and the Gulf,
Mobile g. Northern for 200. The Del
aware. Lackawanna & Western has
purchased 500 steel hopper cars and
20 locomotives.
Structural Awards Arise.
Fabricated structural steel awards
at 10, 500 tons compare with 8,150 tons
last week. New projects total l3.700
tons, as against 18,30O tons in the
previous week. The price advances
resulted in a rush on the part of fab
ricators to obtain an extension of their
projections on pending projects.
Under the code, an advance in price
limits protection to a further period of
go day during which time the fabri-
Gator Ist sign a formal contract for
the steel.
Recent price advances will in no
case become effective until the end of
this week. and some of them will not
go into effect until April 20. All pro-
ducers did not file price changes
and consequently the
effective dates have been advanced to
10 days after the last filing.
Pending the effective dates of new
prices. the Iron Age composites for pig
iron and finished steel are unchanged
at $3.50 gross ton and 2.028 cents a
pound, respectively. The scrap COM
posite also Is unaltered at $l2.S8 a
gross ton."