BRITAIN LEADS WORLD IN STEEL

Chronicle (Levin), 15 April 1946, Page 5

BRITAIN LEADS WORLD IN STEEL

EXPORT DEMANDS REAdH BIG FIGURES l Received Sunday, 7.30 p.m. LONDON. Anril .14.

Britain is now the largest steel exporter in the world, outstripping even the United States. Production this year promises to estaolish v. record in the history of the industry. Production at the end of the first quarter was- at the rate of more / than 13,000,000 tons yearlv, compared witri more than 10,000,000 in 1938. More than fifty countries throughout the world have placed big orders i'ox British steel, Belgium, Hollahd, Prance and Denmark requesting urgent suppiies of many thousands of tons for the rehabilition of their countries. ^ Britain, in the first quarter of 1946, soid more than £1S,000.000 worth or steel abroad, representing an incregse of 18 per cent. in the tonnage and 75 per cent. in value, over the exports oi the comparahle period of 1933. British industry consumed more coal Last month than it did in March, 1945, when munition production was in fuU swing, said Mr. Shinwell in a speech at Durham Colliery. The coal situatiou was still "very sticky," the Ministe. of Fuel warned. " If ahsenteeism due tc midweek sporting fixtures continued, the Governinent would have to tackle the problem.