U.S. STEEL OUTPUT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 108, 9 May 1941, Page 5

U.S. STEEL OUTPUT

A HUGE TOTAL

RAPID DEVELOPMENT

The United States has lately produced as much steel in a week as Australia produces in a year. Production in March was 100 per cent of the capacity of the industry, output being more than 7,000,000 tons —a record figure. Since 1928 there has been an increase of about 20 per cent in productive capacity, representing a yearly output of 84,000,000 tons. In

.January this year output was 97 perl full capacity, totalling! 6.943,084 tons. This was 7 per cent l greater than that for December and' 16 per cent more than the pre-depres- , sion peak established in May, 1929. j Considerable sums have been spent I by the steel industry in modernising! and enlarging plant, even during the period of industrial stagnation, so that it ranks as one of the bestequipped to cope with the rush of I war work. For the year 1941 new I projects are expected to cost 65 perl cent more than the amount spent on I expansion last year, bringing the! total equipment programme in thei 10 years since the depression toi £375.000,000. j Iron and steel exports from the United States have been rising, and amounted to 7,785,540 tons in 1940 I of which Great Britain took 45 per cent. The second largest customer was Canada, and the third, Japan. '