Foreign Steel

For some time it has been an open secret that U. S. iron and steel men were carefully analyzing the future possible effects of foreign competition on their business. Stories in the press of Franco-German iron and steel mergers have recently drawn public attention to this question.

In the first four months of 1925, imports into this country of iron and steel have reached the comparatively large total of 321,435 tons, consisting of 173,249 tons of pig iron, 205,979 tons of pig iron and alloys, 36,240 tons of scrap and 79,216 tons of finished and semi-finished steel. But these figures include imports of such raw material as ferromanganese and other steel alloys. Also they amount to only 0.65 of 1% of U. S. steel production during the first four months of 1925. The imports of finished and semi-finished steel, in fact, amount to less than a single day's output of U. S. steel mills. The facts therefore go to show that the invasion of our markets by foreign steel and iron producers is not as yet anything for Pittsburgh or Birmingham to lose sleep over.