Evening star., 1940-08-04
Exporters Interpret
Scrap Iron Ban as
Ending Japan Trade
Securing Of License
VirtuolIy Impossible
By Shippers Of Metal
Special Dispatch to The Star.

NEW YORK, Aug 3.-Although
the new export license order which
went into effect on Wednesday last
doesn't actually bar shipments to
Japan, exporters interpret it as
meaning the elimination of such
shipments, says Business Week today.
There isn't any embargo on ship
ments of American loW-grade petro-
leum and petroleum products and of
scrap iron and steel; it's just a mat
ter OF securing an export license
But, says the magazine, just try
to get license!
"If the howls coming from Japan
are any criterion" the article states,
there can be no doubt at whom the
oil and No. ! heavy scrap export
license plan is aimed. In export
circles there seems to be complete
agreement that Washington has
acted primarily to bar shipments of
these products to Japan and second
arily to aid Britain in shutting off
a trickle of oil through neutral ma
tions to Germany. This is in spite
of the fact that there isn't any,
thing in the licensing order to in
dicate that it is aimed at anybody
in particular
License List Grows.
Ever since May /, when the first
dictum was issued to cover exports
of arms, ammunition and imple-
ments of war" it is explained, the
list of products requiring licenses
has been growing. Exporters have
discovered that any effort to secure
a license to ship anything which
might fall into the hands of the
"aggressors" quickly became mex
tricably entangled in red tape. Only
few days ago, according to au-
thoritative information in the metal
trade, shipment OF quicksilver to
Japan was thus Stymied
Exporters of oil and scrap, there
fore, have about decided they might
just as well stop negotiations with
the Japanese, even though it means
relinquishing a business which
totaled up to something like $780,
100000 in scrap last year and to a
bit under $2O,O00,0Oo in petroleum
and its derivatives.
Japan for several years has been
the largest buyer of iron and steel
scrap in this country. with the
United Kingdom and Italy a close
second
Exports of scrap have long been
the subject of heated controversy"
says Business Week. Many in the
steel industry have argued that it
is foolhardy to export so much of
a product which Is basic material
in steel-making. Scrap dealers, on
the other hand, have contended
just as stoutly that this country
produces a surplus and that it's
silly not to export. The controversy
now is at least temporarily settled
in the name of national defense
with Italy's purchases already elm
mated and Japan's presumably to
be throttled."
Oil Impact Is Severe.
With exports of oil to Japan shut
of. the impact will be somewhat
more severe than in scrap, even
though trade in the latter runs into
more money. This is because the
shock in petroleum is localized. All
but small percentage of Japan's
oil takings have been supplied by
California and have cleared through
the port of Los Angeles.
The article states that over the first
five months of this year the West
Coast petroleum industry loaded an
average of 60,600 barrels q day for
Japan. Most of it went out in the
form Of crude and fuel oils aboard
fleet of new, high-speed
tankers. Business totaling any such
amount assumes good deal of i'm
portance In comparison with the
August production allowable of $751;
900 barrels daily set by the Central
Committee of Petroleum Producers
for the California companies.
Also taking a hand in the United
States international trade in Pc
troleum is the Maritime Commission,
it is pointed out. 1t made news a
few days ago when 1t revealed that
it had halted two tankers about to
clear Gulf ports for Spain. The
decision, technically at least, was
based on the finding that such
trip would be too dangerous. Real
reason, it is pretty generally agreed,
was that England felt the cargoes
would find their way to the Reich.
The implication was that Washing
ton lent immediate aid to England's
latest effort to ration imports of
European neutrals by extension of
the blockade.