SUPPLIES OF STEEL

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14368, 21 May 1920, Page 6

SUPPLIES OF STEEL

A WORLD FAMINE

The world is faced with a famine in steel, writes a Daily Chronicle .representative, wl'io interviewed several Authorities.' Britain is the only country in the world now manufacturing ami exporting steel in anything- but negligible quantities. It is impossible for British steel merchants to cope with the enormous demands. "So far as can be foreseen," said a representative of one of the largest iron ami steel concerns in the country recently, ''our steel trade is about to pass through a period of greater prosperity than it has ever known before, but when V say 'prosperity' I mean work rather than profits. The American siccl trade is crippled owing to labour troubles, while Germany, Belgium, ?nd France are out of the market for obvious reasons. This means that we have t'.> supply steel for the world, and we cannot do it. British steel firms are finding it impossible to keep pace with the demands of the home trade, ]et alone export requirements. Our main difficulties are the shortage of labour, fuel, and railway trucks, reasons enough to force many firms to shut down for several days a week. Hundreds of the best steel workers were killed 'n the war. That loss cannot be replaced in a hurry. Everything points to the famine becoming worse, as the demand from all parts of the world is colossal. When the war ended the whole world thought there was going to be a slump, and held up orders accordingly. Twelve months later they realised that they were wrong, and now they are all sending in their orders together."