FINANCIAL NOTES RECORD STEEL FIGURES
SIDE by side with the stagnant share markets there is ample evidence that an exceptionally high level of industrial activity is being maintained, thanks very largely to the expenditure on rearmament. The steel industry continues to be the out- standing example of this industrial activity, and the July figures of steel production issued last week were the best July totals ever recorded. That is not to say that the normal seasonal slackening has been avoided ; but it has been much smaller than expected. The month's total output of steel in this country was 1,153,100 tons, a reduction of 22,400 tons compared with June, but an increase of 469,900 tons com- pared with July last year. Pig-iron production, which is a continuous process, was less affected by the incidence of holidays, and the British output of 743,600 tons was the highest since January, 1938. It showed an increase of 27,900 tons over June and of 235,800 tons over July last year. It must be expected that the influence of holidays on the current month's figures will be more pronounced than in July and that there will be a further decline in steel production, even though arrangements to " stagger " holidays will make the reduction a small one. So far as it is possible to foresee the autumn, there is every reason to expect a sharp increase in production in September, and it is not unlikely that the record monthly total steel output of 1,218,100 tons achieved in May may be surpassed within a few months.
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