IRON AND STEEL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 29

IRON AND STEEL

ORGANISATION BYj BRITISH' FIRMS. TVhat success is likely to bo achieved by an attempt to annex the large Ger man overseas trade in iron and stee'. can hardly yet be-predicted; writes the London "Times." Gorman exports of iron or steel plates or sheets, not including tinned and galvanised sheets, amounted iu tho year 1912 in value to over Zk millions sterling. The-most' important customer was the Netherlands, which bought from. Germany, plates and sheets_ to a value of £750,000,while to the United Kingdom, Germany, had an export trade of £500,000. _ Ger-' man competition is also sevoro in the Australian, South African, Indian, Rub-' sian, and Japanese markets. In tubes and pipes Germany has built up an. overseas trade amounting in value to . over 4i millions, this export trade', being largely with Southern and West-' erh Europe, to which in 1912 Germany,J exported tubes, 'pipes, and fittings to the value of 2-j- millions, whilst our own' trade iu this area was of no higher value than £330,000._ Thero iaro also opportunities awaiting the British; manufacturer of iron and steel bars, rods, angles, and sections, tho German export trade having reached a total ini 1912 of £8,299,000.- Iu this branch, i Germany has obtained a considerable: hold on British trade, our purchases of> girders in 1912 representing a value ofj £559,800, and of bars £676,400. 'Al- 1 though Germany has no trade with the'' United Kingdom in screw's, nails,, and:; wire, her manufacturers have a strong:' commercial connection with South Amer-' •ca, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy,i Switzerland,' Japan, and the Dutch' 1 East Indies, While a determined effort has been ' made to divert to German. 4 works tho large' Australian trade. . These are typical examples; of markets which are open to the attack ofthe British manufacturer. Sluch of the success which has been achieved by.) German manufacturers is due to tlieV existence of. ample capital from industrial banks, to State aid,i and to tho work of manufacturing asso»' (nations formed for the purpose of regulating production and of distributing, the trade among the different branches! of the industry. The trade campaign! in foreign markets has also been organ-j ised on lines superior to those followed!] bv British manufacturers. It is not I probable that British firms will adopt German methods in their entirety; butf fhere are features in them which mights'.be imitated with advantage, and signsnrc not wanting that in the- field o£r works organisation, and the association ' of manufacturers for control of outmit ' and maintenance of prices for manufac-' tured products, British firms are assimilating the best features of'the Go: man system.