FINANCIAL NOTES
RECORD STEEL PRODUCTION
RECORD output was achieved by the British steel industry during May. Output of steel ingots and castings, at 1,218,100 tons, compared with 1,058,200 tons in April and with 957,00o tons in May, 1938. The past month's figure was nearly 40,000 tons greater than the previous record figure estab- lished in November, 1937. Output of pig iron has not yet established a new record, but at 692,100 tons it was the highest figure since March, 1938. Last month's output compares with 608,900 tons in April, and 633,9oo tons in May, 1938.
From these figures we may draw two conclusions: clearly the steel industry's recession of 1938 can now be regarded as a closed chapter. The trough of that recession was reached in December, when steel production fell to 655,70o tons. Since then the monthly figure has risen rapidly and has almost been doubled. Even the peak of the 1937 boom has been passed. This is largely the result of armament and civil defence business, for example, air-raid shelters, on which, it should be remembered, profits are controlled. But the expan- sion is not confined to Government business, nor is Govern- ment business confined to the steel industry. Steel is a vital raw material of so many other trades that the process of its recovery may be regarded as the first phase of the spreading of public expenditure through the arteries of British industry. One expects to see the steel industry's activity pass on at second and third hand to other industries.
Further, the May figures reflect the growth of the steel industry's capacity to handle a larger volume of work. In the peak year of 1937 the industry turned out not quite 13,000,000 tons. The peak might have been higher had the industry been capable of handling more work, but the balance had to be filled, and in fact was over-filled, by imports. The peak for practical purposes is now much higher. Something in the neighbourhood of 14,700,000 tons is now possible, whereas at the moment the industry is working at a rate, allowing for holidays, of about 13,600,000 tons, so that it has room for further expansion. Its maximum capacity, too, is still being raised.
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