RECENT CHANGES AND DEVELOPMENTS
When the World War began, exports of phosphate rock from the United States, ordinarily about 1,000,000 tons a year, were cut off and the annual production of the United States fell from 3,000,000 tons to 1,800,000 tons. There has been a strong recovery in the domestic industry and if labor and transportation conditions improve there should shortly be an annual production of nearly 3,000,000 tons for domestic consumption, or as much phosphate rock for our own use as formerly was produced for ourselves and a large export trade.
It is surmised that northern Africa will yield larger quantities in the future than during the pre-war period. Production in Algeria, Tunis, and Egypt was probably stimulated during the war on account of the large reduction in the quantity of American rock sent to Europe.
Japan doubtless will make a large output from the German deposits in Polynesia which came into her possession at the beginning of the war.