IRON INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 9

IRON INDUSTRY

WARNED OF DANGER

•■■-■ A warning to the British iron and .steel industry against neglecting the export trade was given recently by Mr. Walter Kunciman, President ol 'the Board of Trade. Mr. Runciman was proposing the toast of the London Iron and Steel ■"i Exchange at their sixteenth annual :dinner at a London hotel, says the :"Daily Telegraph." After quoting figures showing the industry's exceptional ■prosperity Mr. Runciman said:— "At the present time many indus.tries in this country, including the iron and steel industry, are fully occupied with the revived home demand, coupled with the requirements of the re-ar-mament programme^ which are now ."beginning to be felt. rV "There is a temptation, in these circumstances, to industrialists to fill up ■their order books with these profitable ■and safe home orders to the exclusion j : nt the export trade. This can become a short-sighted policy. HOME MARKET'S FUTURE. !. "The time may possibly come when 'the present lively home demand- will ■begin to fall off. The time will certainly come, when -the re-armament pro;gramme, is completed and what I may call large capital orders become 'replacement orders.. ' "Let our" industries see to it that when that time comes they have not lost their export connections. There must be no .failure on our part to strengthen our trade connections overseas, and to maintain our reputation for. the quality of our products, the integrity of Jur merchants and manu'■faciurers, and last, and by no means leak, the punctuality of our deliveries." Mr. Runciman's warning was endorsed by later speakers. Mr. C. Bruce Gardner, the chairman, responding to the toast, congratulated the Government on accomplishing an industrial revolution "quietly and without dislocation." "But hold on to what you have got at allcosts," he said. "You will need them some day. It is a difficult problem to meet home commercial orders, re-armament orders, and export at one and the same time, and to do so. it might be necessary to import to re-ex-port, but do keep your hand on the export trade at all costs." Mr. S. R. Beale, chairman of Guest, ■Keen, and Nettlefolds, Ltd.. said that the great problem confronting the industry was "How long is prosperity going to last?" "We have it In our power to decide," 'ho' said.