A considerable amount of low-phosphorus iron ore used in the manufacture of low-phosphorus pig iron is also imported from Sweden, and a larger amount of this ore is imported from Spain. This material is used in Germany for the manufacture of pig iron to be used in making acid open-hearth steel.
Since Germany has lost the Lorraine iron fields, the remaining domestic iron mines will be able to supply less than 20 per cent. of the requirements of iron ore for the German furnaces. However, it is likely that Germany will continue to receive most of her supplies from the Lorraine fields, in which German holdings at present predominate over French holdings and will probably continue to predominate.
Great Britain.
—The United Kingdom has produced from 10 to 14 per cent. of the iron and steel of the world annually for the past 10 years or more, and apparently has consumed in normal times about 50 per cent. of the product and exported 50 per cent., mainly to British possessions. During the war about 75 per cent. of the British production was consumed at home and 25 per cent. was exported, largely to France. Fifty per cent. of the iron and steel products manufactured has been obtained from ores mined in Great Britain, and 50 per cent. from imported ores. Thus, normally, the domestic yield of iron ore just about equals the domestic demand for iron, whereas during the war the domestic demand for iron was greater than the domestic supply of ore. Great Britain depends upon outside sources for one-third of her iron-ore supply and this constitutes the source of about one-half of the iron products.
The iron industry in Great Britain before the war was loosely controlled by merchants who acted as intermediaries between producer and consumer, an arrangement that did not work to the advantage of the consumer.[49] British manufacturers had little interest abroad and were themselves insufficiently organized to operate successfully. If the sources of foreign iron ore were cut off, the situation might become critical and exceedingly embarrassing until the domestic mining industry could be expanded. To meet this condition the British Board of Trade Committee advised a consolidation of iron interests by the formation of a syndicate for the purchase and distribution of iron ores and particularly for the acquiring of interests abroad. This syndicate would establish sales agencies and arrange for transportation and trade, similar to the organization of W. H. Müller & Co., of The Hague. The committee recommended that these operations be backed by the government and that all the resources of the British Empire be under the control of the government, especially in regard to the granting of concessions to aliens and the imposing of restrictions to favor home producers. It has recently been reported that the iron interests have organized along the lines indicated.
[49] British Board of Trade, “Reports on Iron and Steel,” London.
France.
—The annual consumption of iron ore in France for the manufacture of pig iron and crude iron and steel products amounts to about 12 million tons under normal conditions. The productive capacity of the iron mines of France is more than 21 million, leaving a surplus of 9 million tons of ore annually available for export. More than 90 per cent. of the iron ore produced in France is obtained from the Lorraine iron mines.
Most of the ore exported from France in the past has gone to German blast furnaces. Much has gone to Belgium. Imports of iron ore are small, being mostly high-grade ore from Sweden, in which class of ore France is deficient. French possessions in North Africa have large reserves of high-grade ore, but the bulk of the ore mined there has gone to England and Germany.
As a result of the war, that part of the Lorraine iron fields within the boundaries of the disputed provinces of Alsace and Lorraine has been given to France, who thus has control of the entire output of the great Lorraine iron fields with the exception of the part included in Luxemburg. The production of the Lorraine iron fields, including the part that formerly belonged to Germany, has been nearly 48 million tons annually, of which about 7 million tons is mined in Luxemburg. Outside of the Lorraine district France produces about 1,500,000 tons of ore. Thus, unless iron and steel making expand greatly in France, much iron ore will be mined for export.