AMERICAN STEEL MARKET

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 199, 24 August 1925, Page 4

AMERICAN STEEL MARKET

FEELS STRONG COMPETITION. EXPORT BUSINESS SLACK. According to latest mail advices the eteel industry in the United States is fairly satisfactory, but this is because of heavy local requirements; foreign orders are scarce. Messrs. Mailler and Quereau, of New York, writing on July 22, report as follows. —"The falling off of the United States Steel Company for the last month, was about 350,000 tons, but it is expected that it will be much less the present month and that there will be a steady improvement in the future. The United States Steel Company, it is reported, is now operating at about 65 per cent of capacity in nearly all of its works, while independent manufacturers are running at 50. per cent to CO per cent. This is higher than it was a year ago and the outlook is .more encouraging. The United States Steel Company admits it is not doing very much export trade, as the competition of British and Belgian steel has been so very keen, and prices so low. that it has been impossible to meet this competition. The wages paid in this country are from two to three times as high as in the other countries mentioned, and, as this enters so largely into the cost of finished steel, it makes the product very high and competition extremely difficult. Our railroads and automobile manufacturers are still requiring large supplies and there are intimations that increased business will soon be put before the steel manufacturers. There is a strong feeling that the United States will have another six inontha of active and profitable business, with the probability that it will go into the new year with large orders in nearly every line that is produced here. Meanwhile shipments of steel to both Australia and New Zealand are very limited, and the few offers that are coming forward are so much lower than the current prices that the manufacturers hero are not disposed to look upon them favourably."