STEEL MAKING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 87, 22 January 1938, Page 5

STEEL MAKING

OBSTACLES IN INDUSTRY. THE NEW ZEALAND PROPOSAL. CRITICISM IN AUSTRALIA. .United Fress Association—Copyright.) (Received This Dav, 11.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. The “Sydney Morning Herald” says that Australian experts on the steel industry believe that the New Zealand Government will find it has to surmount many obstacles in carrying out its plan to manufacture steel on a large scale. One obstacle, they say, is the modern trend toward large-scale operation in the steel industry. This tendency has gone so far that the existing market would possibly not be able to absorb a large proportion of the production, if the proposed steelworks are of the most modern design. The works would have to be able to rely upon obtaining some export markets. The experts point out that as the new steelworks could not be completed for several years, New Zealand might find herself entering the export steel trade against the competition of European and American plants and of the Australian steel industry, which has already embarked on large-scale plans for extension. In meeting such competition New Zealand might be considerably handicapped by the prices of raw material.