Cresylic acid is recovered in all the countries of Europe, Great Britain and Germany being the leading producers and the principal exporters. Increasing demand in these countries for synthetic resins made from cresylic acid has greatly reduced the quantities available for export in recent years.

Great Britain is probably the world’s largest producer of cresylic acid, and for many years has been the principal exporter to the United States. This position is due to the large available supply of gas-house tar, and to an ample market for all the products of tar distillation. In 1935 the tar distilled in England, Wales, and Scotland totaled 360 million gallons, of which 55 percent was gas-house tar.

British production of all grades of cresylic acid averages between 35 million and 42 million pounds annually, of which from 12 million to 20 million pounds are exported. Many British producers market their tar products through pools and associations. There is a cresylic acid pool, a phenol pool, and at least two creosote oil export associations, a pitch marketing association, and a benzol association. One of the principal grades of cresylic acid produced in Great Britain is “American duty-free specification.”

Table [72] shows British exports of cresylic acid, by countries, in recent years.

Table 72.—Cresylic acid: British exports, by countries, 1933-37

Destination19331934193519361937
Quantity (in thousands of pounds)
UNITED STATES3,6165,7836,11611,296(1)
Chile1,3812,9582,814662(1)
France35887214189(1)
Japan6322036852,002(1)
All other countries5,4646,9657,3339,250(1)
Total11,45115,99717,16223,39926,697
Value (in thousands of dollars)
UNITED STATES147277255620(1)
Chile28898731(1)
France2152014(1)
Japan382043118(1)
All other countries189307330537(1)
4226987341,3212,262

1 Not available.

Source: Official British statistics.

Imports into the United States.