The Balance Sheet

One week after the end of the steel strike, production of ingots was scheduled at only 268,000 tons, or 15.2% of capacity. Although many a plant was pouring far faster than expected, full production was still three weeks to a month away, at best.

Nor was the strike entirely ended. Last week most of the hundreds of fabricators and processors, employing some 350,000 workers, were still shut down. They told Reconversion Director John W. Snyder that they would not reopen until they were sure that they would not be squeezed between the increased cost of their labor and steel they must buy. Some demanded a 10% to 25% increase in price for their finished products.

Even if the entire industry returns to pre-strike levels of production (80% to 85% of capacity) within a month, the U.S. will still face a serious steel shortage. The industry was one month behind schedule before the strike, lost another month (some 6,000,000 tons) because of the strike. Most steelmakers will have to reduce customers' tonnage quotas sharply, may even have to forgo assignment of quotas for a full quarter while catching up on unfilled orders (see below).

Experts have estimated that the U.S. would need some 80,000,000 tons of steel this year. At week's end most optimistic estimate of production was 65,000,000 tons.

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