[For release June 1, 1954. Series: NPAF-17-02] FACTS FOR INDUSTRY SHIPMENTS OF STEEL MILL PRODUCTS AND STEEL CASTINGS TO CONSUMERS 1952 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of the Census: Sinclair Weeks, Secretary Robert W. Burgess, Director A. Ross Eckler, Deputy Director Howard C. Grieves, Assistant Director Industry Division: Maxwell R. Conklin, Chief Louis J. Owen, Assistant Chief for Management Metals and Metal Products Section: Clarence H. Olsen, Chief Business and Defense Services Administration: Iron and Steel Division: William Kerber, Director Charles Halcomb, Deputy Director Business Research and Analysis Branch: George C. Lovell, Deputy Chief DMS-Domestic Section: Jacob Levin, Chief The Iron and Steel Division, Business and Defense Services Administration, and the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, jointly release in this publication tables of steel-mill product and steel-casting shipments classified by consuming industries, by grade, and by shape for the calendar year 1952. The consuming industries are identified by those allotment symbols through which steel was obtained under the controlled materials plan (CMP). The year 1952 is the only full year for which this type of data is available. This material should provide a benchmark for commercial research activity relating to the consumption of steel and should prove valuable to all persons interested in steel statistics, since it reflects patterns of consumption by shape and form. These data are more detailed than other consumption statistics in several respects: Steel forgings are not shown as a consuming industry nor as a steel product but the tonnages of steel for forgings are reported with the appropriate consuming industries; steel shipped by nonintegrated companies is included in this report under the appropriate consuming industry; the shape and form breakdown is similar to but larger than that used in other statistical reports on steel consumption. The steel-work stoppage during June and July affected total production for the year but had little or no effect on distribution patterns. These figures represent complete coverage and are based on statistics collected from approximately 350 producers of steel-mill products and approximately 325 foundries. The arrangement of industry groups (identified in the tables as end products) is similar to the market classifications reported by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) in their form AIS 16. Detailed listings of items included in each of the allotment symbol headings are found in the appendix to this release. Shipments to each consumer category represent direct-mill shipments and do not reflect shipments obtained by consumers from warehouses for the same end uses. Such data are not available. However, a separate category of total steel-mill shipments to warehouses is included. In addition to the detail of shipments to manufacturers and to warehouses, the tables include certain other major groups of consumers; viz., construction, MRO (maintenance, repair and operating supplies), exports, and all other. The all other is a composite of the following: (a) Various Government agencies, including the Department of Defense, Atomic Energy Commission, Federal Security Administration, Veterans' Administration, Department of Agriculture, Defense Solid Fuels Administration, etc. (excluding in each case shipments for construction which are included in the construction category); and (b) Miscellaneous uses, such as laboratories, field offices, small users, materials for repairmen, etc. MRO for defense programs is included with the all other category for it was not possible to identify all such shipments. Late in 1952 consumers were authorized to add the B-5 symbol to their regular authorized symbol to identify steel for end products to be used as components of items for defense (including AEC) programs. The B-5 tonnage is not separated from the consuming industry total. A separate release in the Facts for Industry series NPAF-17-03, Shipments of Steel Mill Products to Defense Programs First Quarter 1951 through Fourth Quarter 1953 dated May 21, 1954, gives quarterly direct mill shipments of steel mill products (not including castings) to the defense (including AEC) programs for 1952 as well as 1951 and 1953, and total shipments for all uses, by carbon, alloy, and stainless grade, but not by shape and form. This release consists of 5 tables, the first 4 for each grade of steel-milk products and the fifth for steel castings: TABLE 1-CARBON Shipments to those symbols accounting for a total of less than 5,000 tons are included with the "total all other." Under the CMP all electrical sheet and strip was included with carbon for purposes of allotments. The AISI includes the bulk of these products with alloy. However, this release conforms to the CMP classification by including all electrical sheet and strip with carbon. The construction figure is divided into three groups: Bureau of Public Roads (highways and bridges); Petroleum Administration for Defense (chiefly pipeline construction,); and “all other" which includes, in addition to defense and AEC construction, industrial, commercial, residential, public buildings, and other types. The first two groups are separated because the types of steel used differ basically from those used in the construction of buildings. It was not possible to make a separate category of industrial construction. MRO (maintenance, repair, and operating supplies) is divided into "railroad" and "all other." Exports are shown separately for Canada, by far the largest single market, and combined for all other markets. Differences between these figures and the foreign trade statistics released by the Bureau of the Census are due primarily to the exclusion, in this table, of exports through warehouses. TABLE 2-FULL ALLOY, EXCEPT STAINLESS, AND TABLE 3-LOW ALLOY In the full alloy table, shipments totaling less than 100 tons are included in the "total all other" category. Under the CMP, low alloy was included with carbon for purposes of steel allotments while the AISI statistics include low alloy with full alloy. The low alloy figures are, therefore, shown separately to permit their combination with either carbon or full alloy grades in commercial research or other similar activities. TABLE 4-NICKEL-BEARING STAINLESS STEEL In this table shipments totaling less than 25 tons to any allotment symbol are included in the "total all other" category. The Bureau of the Census 1952 figures show total shipments of 505,102 tons of stainless. The shipment figures in this release account for 281,546 tons and represent nickel-bearing stainless only. The source for this table did not include non-nickel-bearing (straight chrome) stainless because this grade was removed from allotment control during the first quarter of 1952, The NPA control order M-80 placed restrictions on the use of nickel-bearing stainless for a number of specific items. This fact would tend to distort the normal patterns of distribution for this grade of steel. TABLE 5-STEEL CASTINGS The industry practice of including low alloy with alloy and using the term "high alloy" in preference to the term "stainless" is adopted in this table. Shipments of small quantities to individual consuming industries are combined into broader categories. The preparation of this material was planned and directed by George C. Lovell with Jacob Levin responsible for developing the tables, assisted by Edwin R. Kroeger. Inquiries pertaining to these statistics should be referred to the Iron and Steel Division, Business and Defense Services Administration, Washington 25, D. C. Copies of this release may be obtained from the Bureau of the Census, Industry Division, Washington 25, D. C. |