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on the market under a proprietary name; mandelic acid was put on the market in two forms; and a new anesthetic was introduced.

Other developments included: A new process using sulphuryl chloride for wool processing and said to make the wool unshrinkable in washing; a mercury base fungicide marketed under the name "Verdasan D," designed to control "Fusarium patch" of turf; and an anti-icing compound for airplane wings.

Japan. Some of the claimed results of research in Japan include: The Oriental Chemical Research Institute of Osaka was reported to have developed a process for the production of anthraquinone from crude anthracene, securing carbazole as a byproduct; "silk wool," a new substitute for wool was made from vegetable albumen extracted from Manchurian bean cake; the manufacture of a synthetic resin from silkworm croppings, said to compare favorably with phenolic synthetic resins as regards water, acid, and alkali resistance, was begun; a new luminous paint was being manufactured; a process for making titanium dioxide by treating a slag obtained in the manufacture of vanadium steel from iron sand was developed by an engineer at Osaka; and, as a result of a decree prohibiting soap manufacturers from importing tallow except for use in the manufacture of soaps for the export trade, research was intensified and one company claimed it could produce soap with hardened oil which is equal in every respect to that produced from tallow.

New uses for other chemicals.-A number of chemicals were put to new uses in 1937. Dry ice was used in England for freezing corpses; leading British manufacturers offered solid carbon dioxide to the undertaking establishments as a hygienic method of preserving corpses before burial. In the field of agricultural chemicals, sodium zincate was used for the control of grasshoppers in Argentina; aluminum chlorate was used as a weed-killer in Belgium, under a French patent; copper nitrate was used for dandelion control in Canada; teaseed oil cake was employed as an insecticide in China; and sulphuryl chloride was found useful in Finland as a substitute for hydrochloric sulphuric acid mixture in the preservation of green fodder.

In Belgium, high-grade salt cake is displacing more expensive Glauber's salts in the dyeing establishments of Verviers in the production of inferior qualities of woolen and cotton goods. These dyeing establishments also find it economical to utilize an impure Glauber salt recovered at the rayon plant in Alost.

In Chile, the Instituto de Fomento Minero e Industrial de Antofagasta financed the construction in Antofagasta of a 10-ton experimental plant for the precipitation of low-grade copper oxide ores. Hydrogen sulphide is employed to reduce the ores to a sulphite containing from 48 to 60 percent copper. Claims are made that this cheaply constructed plant is most economical in operation, with a complete recovery of the sulphuric acid employed.

Other new developments. An interesting medical discovery in Denmark claimed to make insulin less soluble in the human blood and experiments were continued in the production of morphine and opium from locally grown poppies.

Benzylaminobenzenesulphamide was introduced in Poland under the trade name "Septazin" to combat infectious diseases.

In Soviet Union, the Central Institute of Epidemiology and Bacteriology under the People's Commissariat for health, obtained a staphylococcus vaccine.

Two new paints were reported-one, a fire-resistant paint, was said to be marketed in France; and a new wall-finishing material, obtained from the wastes of mercury plants, was developed in the Soviet Union. In Italy, a new denaturant for alcohol, made from methyl ethyl ketone and chloroform was approved, and a new method was developed for the manufacture of citrate of lime.

The Union of South Africa Department of Agriculture and Forestry developed a successful blowfly repellent. The Government also conducted research to discover an efficient, low-cost locust killer, less poisonous than sodium arsenite.

WORLD COMMODITY DATA

World data on many chemical commodities are not available, but from time to time some statistical data are gathered by various unofficial organizations, and it has been the policy to publish such material in World Chemical Developments or in World Trade Notes on Chemicals and Allied Products. The following statistics have been. taken from unofficial sources.

Bleaching powder.-An estimate of 350,000 metric tons, annually, for 1935 and 1936 production of bleaching powder throughout the world was published in a European journal. The chief producing countries are Germany, Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, and Japan. Other significant suppliers are Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Sweden. World exports in 1936 were 60,000 to 70,000 tons, compared with 70,000 to 80,000 tons in 1929. About 90 percent of the exports originate in Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Belgium, France, and the Soviet Union. Principal importers are Sweden, British India, China, Finland, Netherlands, and Norway. Carbon bisulphide.-A rise in the output of synthetic textile fiber has been the chief factor in the increased world production of carbon bisulphide, from 110,000 metric tons in 1929 to 260,000 in 1936. It is estimated that 90 percent of the world production is accounted for by six countries-Germany, Japan, United States, Italy, United Kingdom, and France and that 80 percent of consumption is accounted for by industries producing fibers and other materials based on cellulose xanthate as an intermediate.

Chlorine.-A German survey of world production and trade in chlorine placed 1935 and 1936 production at 600,000 to 700,000 metric tons, annually, of which more than 500,000 tons consisted of liquefied chlorine. World output in 1929 was placed at 400,000 metric tons, of which about 300,000 was liquefied. The United States accounts for a substantial share of the world production.

Phosphate rock-Statistics compiled by the International Superphosphate Manufacturers' Association, London, show that the total world production of phosphate rock in 1936 was 11,346,500 metric tons, based on actual production figures for many countries and on estimates of output in Belgium, Soviet Union, France, and Spain. The revised total for 1935 was 12,029,700 tons, making an apparent reduction of nearly 700,000 tons for 1936. As a matter of fact, however, the production in terms of phosphoric acid showed an increase of about 247,000 tons over 1935, and the apparent discrepancy is explained by the varying bases taken for the Soviet Union production. The trend of consumption, as indicated by compilations of world shipments of phosphate rock by the Phosphate Export Association,

showed that a peak was reached in 1937 when deliveries were reported at 11,931,900 metric tons, compared with 10,494,300 in 1936, and the previous high of 10,763,200 in 1929.

Superphosphate.-Total world output of superphosphate for 1936 was 15,621,600 metric tons, an increase of 1,173,000 tons over 1935, previously the highest figure on record, which exceeded that of 1930, the peak year until 1935, by 56,500 tons, according to the International Superphosphate Manufacturers' Association, London. However, the increase was not evenly spread over the world's geographic divisions: for example, Europe had a reduction of 113,000 tons, whereas America was up by 752,000 tons, Japan by 254,000, and Oceania by 271,000. The European position in 1936 is not strictly comparable with that of 1935, however, owing to the fact that for 1936 Russian superphosphate is computed at a much higher grade than for 1935. In addition, the civil war in Spain has resulted in a reduction of about 605,000 tons in the output, and as superphosphate has been very intensively used in Europe for many years past, it is improbable that such a very large reduction in the output of one country would be made up by increases in other countries. In Africa, the countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia showed a decrease of about 11,400 tons in production, whereas the Union of South Africa showed an increase of nearly 9,000 tons. Australia and New Zealand showed very marked increases; in fact, the advance in Australian output has been remarkable since 1932.

The following statistics, presenting the most complete data available on the phosphate rock and superphosphate industries throughout the world, have been furnished by the International Superphosphate Manufacturers' Association, London.

Statistical Data on Phosphate Rock and Superphosphate in 1936

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Nitrogen.-New high records were established by world nitrogen producers in the fiscal year ended June 1937, according to data compiled by the British Sulphate of Ammonia Federation, Ltd., London. Consumption increased 10.7, to a total of 2,675,000 metric tons, following an increase of 16.7 percent over 1934-35. Production advanced 8.4 percent over 1935-36, and synthetic plants operated on an average of 50 percent of the world capacity, placed at 3,900,000 metric Of an estimated world-production total of nitrogen of 2,594,000 metric tons in 1936-37, byproduct of ammonium sulphate accounted for 407,000 tons; synthetic ammonium sulphate, 654,000; cyanamide, 285,000; nitrate of lime, 159,000; Chilean nitrate, 206,000; and other forms of nitrogen, 883,000.

The largest tonnage increases in consumption occurred principally in Germany, the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union, China, and France. The increase in the consumption of ammonium sulphate in Asia is particularly noteworthy, almost 100,000 tons N, or threequarters of the total world increase in 1936-37. About two-thirds of the Asiatic increase was in the Japanese Empire, one-fifth in China, and the remainder in most of the other markets. In Europe, the decrease in consumption in Spain was more than counterbalanced by large increases in other countries, particularly in Germany where prices were reduced 30 percent by Government decree. By geographic areas, consumption in 1936-37 in metric tons was: Europe, 1,493,000; Africa, 114,900; Asia, 531,900; Oceania, including Hawaii, 31,600; America, 503,700; and world total, 2,675,000.

FOREIGN MARKET CONCEPTS

T. W. Delahanty, Assistant Chief, Chemical Division

Merchandising in a foreign market is no different from the same process at home to some individuals who claim that more American manufactured products should be sold in foreign markets. Perhaps one of the reasons why more American goods have not been sold on foreign markets has been because of indifference on the part of the majority of manufacturers and merchants. Many Americans, however, are engaged in selling abroad and, numbered among these exporters, there are many who are not producers but are export merchants. Frequently it is true that merchants, expecially in the highly industrialized markets, are at a disadvantage in acting as middlemen; nevertheless, these specialists generally have been responsible for the introduction and development of the market for thousands of American products. The success in penetrating and cultivating markets abroad is based upon extensive and intensive knowledge of the people-how they live and how they may be induced to include a product in their list of requirements. The merchants ascertain the degree to which the products are locally available, whether the articles they desire to export will meet the needs of a particular area, and whether they are within the financial reach of the majority.

Competition is relative; for example, it is not a matter of price alone, since there are the more important features of efficiency and service which, even in the poorest market, usually outweigh the element of price. Likewise indicative of competitive ability, merchants recognize that the best foreign markets are the countries of competi

tors, and it is not unusual to find American merchandise reexported from competitive countries to other world markets.

Those who contemplate foreign sales introduction or expansion should develop a service point of view and a deep interest in the market they seek to cultivate, analagous to that accorded domestic selling. Exporters should look to future sales and not be content with immediate sales opportunities. They should study the country in terms of its needs and resources, consider the health and welfare of the masses, ascertain the requisites for greater industrialization, and contribute to the general improvement of the country so as to raise the living and consuming standards. The foreign trader, therefore, should possess some of the qualities of the pioneer, not only as a matter of good business but as a duty in the higher development of the market country.

MINOR MARKETS

It is believed that too many American firms disregard foreign markets and what is needed for their development. This leads to a consideration of so-called minor markets. Too much stress cannot be laid on these areas in contrast to competitive markets. In the latter, particularly in recent years, there has been a growing tendency toward intensive nonprofit competition, and the self-sufficiency urge and monetary restrictions have caused a loss or abandonment of formerly well-established markets for some products.

On the other hand, in the relatively minor markets, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, there exists an urge for progress. For example, in Latin America there are a few countries where industrialization has been developed to an encouraging degree in mining, textiles, tanning, food processing, chemicals, and other manufacturing, and, although American interests are represented, there is opportunity for even greater participation.

It is not improbable that greater interest in Latin American markets would ensue if it were realized that in the area from the southern border of the United States to Cape Horn there are as many inhabitants as in continental United States. There are 47 million people living between our southern border and the northern border of South America, another 16 million on the west coast of South America, and 56 million more on the east coast.

Each of the countries involved, with few exceptions, may be thought of in relation to coastal areas, since the markets and populations are fairly well concentrated in and about seacoast towns. To facilitate visualization, some physical comparisons may be made with individual States in the United States; for example, the smallest compact group, Central America, is two-thirds the size of the State of Texas but has a population 10 percent larger. The West Indies, with an area onethird that of Texas, has twice the population. On the other hand, Mexico is three times the area of Texas, has three times the population, and compares in this respect with the population of our entire South Atlantic Coast States.

Collectively, it may be said that Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies, with an aggregate of approximately 1,100 square miles, is one-half the size of the United States west of the Mississippi River and has a population equivalent thereto, or twice the population density. Even if the Caribbean area, including the countries of

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