Evening star., 1941-05-07
Close Restriction
OF Steel Supplies
Clearly Indicated
Increased Defense Tempo
Certain to DispIuee
Civilian Orders, Is View
ey the Associated Press.

ey INC haSoCldlSu FItos.
NEW YORK, May 7.-Close re-
striction of steel supplies available
for non-defense manufacturing is
indicated clearly in recent develop
ments, the magazine Iron Age said
today.
The developments which brought
today's steel picture into sharper
focus were:
!. Inventory control over 16 metals,
including five types of steel and iron.
2. President Roosevelt's appeal for
"24-hour day, seven days a week"
3. The number of new defense
plants ready to go into production.
4. Realization that railroads must
have considerable new equipment
to handle the larger volume of traffic
now expected.
Inventory control is the most
drastic effort taken so far to avoid
more widespread use of mandatory
priorities.
Iron Age also said: The speeding
up of the defense program and of
aid to Britain will superimpose on
already overcroWded steel mill order
books a large tonnage for which
rolling schedules can be found only
by the displacement of less import
ant non-defense orders One of the
pending requirements is not
less than 100000 tons of shell
STEEL
Need for Railroad Cars.
"A conference in Washington last
week disclosed that several million
tons of steel will be required for
greatly expanded railroad buying
program, which will include 100000
cars for 1912 traffic and 10000 more
for 1943. 1t was estimated that the
railroads will require nearly 100000
tons of steel, including rails and
track supplies, over the remainder
of this year. .
New defense projects are crop
ping up. More than 100000 tons Of
structural shapes for bearing piles
will be required for three Navy prof.
ects on the Atlantic Coast. Fabri-
AdlNd Oh dNld oiNCl d"dio az
close to $4,000 tons, second highest
weekly total this year, include a
bomber plant taking $4,000 tons.
The British will be back in the
market for steel for June shipment,
and for that month will require
minimum of 100000 to 100000 tons.
In addition, the British want United
States mills to ship $4,000 ton of tin
plate month to British Domlnions
and to Portugal and the Argentine
A tin plate scarcity is already in
evidence. so far as new business is
concerned. -
Rapid Recovery From Strike.
Recovery from the effects of the
coal strike has been quicker than
expected. At midWeek the industry
vii be operating at 975 per cent.
three and half points above last
week. 1t is indicated that the 100
per cent operation of March may be
attained before the end of May. Pig
iron output in April was 4.334, ,267
net tons, compared with 4,704, ,135
tons in March. Taking into account
one less working day in April, the
calculated loss caused by the coal
strike was 248233 tons. On May /
there were 1875 furnaces in blast
compared with 205 on April /. but
some of the 20 that were blown
out or banked have since resumed
production and others will be put in
shortly. The daily average produc-
ton last month was 144,475 tons. or
SO per cent of capacity, against
March average of 156804 tons, or
96.9 per cent of capacity. A tighter
pig iron situation has developed
from the coal strike.
The decision of the Office of Price
Administration and Civilian Sup
ply to permit the Phoenix Iron Co.
to charge 230 cents a pound for
shapes and 235 cents for bars at its
mill, or 81 ton above the general
market level, points to dual system
of prices in which marginal pro-
ducers may continue to quote higher
prices than their competitors. One
or two other similar cases are pend
ing.
Scrap composite is unchanged at
$19.17."