URANIUM ORE PRODUCTION in the U.S. is up to nearly 3,000,000 tons annually (v. 70,000 tons in 1948), thus making U.S. the free world's leading producer, says AEC Raw Materials Director Jesse C. Johnson. U.S. ore output will eventually climb to 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 tons annually.

BIGGEST STEEL PLANT for South is planned by Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. The $250 million plant near Houston will have capacity of 1,000,000 ingot tons. If J. & L. can get Government fast tax write-off for plant, project will probably start late this year.

CANNED FOOD PRICES are heading higher. To meet rising costs, packers forecast a 5% wholesale hike for 1956 pack. Retail rise: 1-c- and 2-c- per can.

RISING OIL IMPORTS are getting U.S. oilmen in increasing trouble with Office of Defense Mobilization. ODM Chief Arthur S. Flemming has issued his third and stiffest warning of possible damage to domestic production, has asked oilmen to cut back imports from overseas fields by at least 24% daily.

MILWAUKEE'S SCHLITZ, top U.S. brewer in 1955 with 5,780,000 bbls. sold, is bidding to pull farther ahead of No. 2 Anheuser-Busch. For $2.5 million, Schlitz has bought Kansas City's 88-year-old George Muehlebach Brewing Co.

WINDFALL PROFITS recovered by Government from apartment-house builders will total some $15 million by fall, says FHA. Eventually, FHA hopes to get back around $25 million from builders, who placed overhigh valuations on projects, thus made big profits on deals where Government-insured mortgages exceeded cost of building.

FAIR TRADE LAW has been knocked out in Louisiana. New Orleans Supermarket Operator John Schwegmann Jr., who persuaded U.S. Supreme Court to rule out Fair Trade on antitrust grounds only to have Congress plug loophole (TIME, March 16, 1953), has finally won his fight in Louisiana, where state Supreme Court ruled that nonsigners of Fair Trade contracts are not bound.

RECORD EXPORTS to U.S. in 1956 will help foreign nations reduce trade deficits. Commerce Department figures for May show U.S. imports at $1.08 billion, some $94 million more than April and $126 million more than May 1955.

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