BUSINESS
BEHIND THE MARKETS H A R R Y STENERSON, Associate
Editor
G l y c e r o l situation has loosened m a t e r i a l l y , w i t h production up 2 1 ° ^ a n d stocks of crude rising a b o v e 2 0 m i l l i o n pounds . . . Scarcity m a y d e v e l o p a g a i n later i n 1 9 5 1 . . . Tall oil h a s joined the ranks of m a j o r chemicals
In the consumption ot refined tall oil, the most striking percentage gains have been scored by soap and chemicals. Thus the monthly factory consumption for soap more than doubled during the year while its use in miscellaneous chemicals, increased, on a monthly basis, almost four times.
CRUDE TALL OIL PRODUCTION
I^VM: of our critical supply shortages, ^-^ glycerol, has improved to a considerahle degree over the last few mouths This can be seen in the rise which has taken pl~ce in production as well as stocks. Crude glycerol production was 6(1 •> million pounds during the first quarter of 1951 against 54.7 million during the same time in 1950, an increase of 2 1 % . Stocks of crude, which hit a low point of 12.5 million pounds last August, have undergone replenishment and totaled 20.6 million pounds at the end of the first 1951 quarter. Census Bureau shows.
CRUDE GLYCEROL PRODUCTION MILLIONS OF POUNDS
Trade authorities in glycerol are not so hopeful for a continuance of this improvement, however, and expect things to tighten up again during the last half of the year. Expansion of Shell Chemical's synthetic unit at Houston will not ho completed until the close of 1951, and the output of by-product glycerol will take a seasonal header in July and August as the result of vacations in the soap industry. Argentine Supplies Even greater stress is placed on the prospect that Argentina, which is usually depended upon to supply an average shipment of 600,000 pounds of glycerol to this country may not be able to supply this quantity over the remainder of the sear. According to one trade report, Argentina's exportable surplus is going chiefly to European markets where there are no price ceilings on finished products rendering importation difficult. On the other hand glycerol is also available from a number of foreign suppliers in addition to Argentina. With regard to ceilings, a conference on such proposals was held by the Office of Price Stabilization and the glycerol industry advisory committee on May 22. Also 2332
discussed was the plan to place a ceiling on natural refined glycerol when sold by refiners or converters in tin containers. Allocation controls, at least for the present, evidently are not under consideration for glycerol. The National Production Authority has indicated that it will not provide for DO orders covering military requirements unless the nation goes on an all-out war basis. Glycerol is still subject to the inventory control order, however. Tall Oil Expansion A few years ago tall oil was an unwanted constituent of wood pulp waste liquors with very limited uses. It had a disagreeable odor and color, but possessed promising industrial applications. It is an oily, resinous mixture of rosin acids, fatty acids, sterols, alcohols, and some unsaponifiable fractions. Today, tall oil has a very large and growing market, due to the fact that the chemist has put it into forms in which it can be used. It is distilled, esterified, limed, polymerized, saponified, sulfonated, and processed into fatty acids. As a distilled product in which the pitch and rosin acids have been removed, tall oil has won important outlets in the preparation of emulsifiers, in the linoleum industry, in paint driers, and in place of red oil for textile soaps, cutting oils, and alkyds. "Tallates" are being taken in place of naphthenate paint driers, which have departed from the scene owing to the scarcity of naphthenic acid. The latter is entering napalm incendiary "bombs" in Korea, also is required for mildew proofing there in the form of copper naphthanate. Future Prospects The tallates, lead, cobalt, and manganese, may retain a good part of the market won from the naphthenate driers when and if normal conditions return to this planet. Right now they are about 4 cents a pound cheaper than the naphthenates, and while some in the trade do not believe the tallate driers can retain all of this favorable differential when t h e naphthenates again are in free supply, they will always have some price advantage. Crude tall oil products, reflecting the rise in its new markets, was turned out during 1950 to the extent of 153,932 tons, against 114,982 tons in 1949. During the first quarter of 1951 the output showed an even more startling increase. The total for the period was 109,192,000 pounds compared with 51,741,000 pounds, an increase of about 111%. C H E M I C A L
MILLIONS OF POUNDS
Paint and varnish manufacture, which accounts for the largest single consumption of refined tall oil, held to a relatively stable consuming basis. Paint and varnish last year accounted for 36.5% of total factory consumption of the oil. The breakdown was as follows: Factory Consumption, Refined Tall Oil, 1950 INDUSTRY
LB.
PER CENT OF TOTAL
Soap Chemicals Paint a n d vara is h Lubricants and greases Other products Totals
9,661,000 3,698,000 19,984,000 703,000 20,713,000 54,759,000
17.6 6.7 36.5 1.3 37.9 100.0
Rosin-Turpentine Trends More rosin and turpentine entered the manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, gums, and resins during the naval stores season, April 1950 to March 1951, Department of Agriculture shows. Consumption for chemicals and pharmaceuticals rose from 329,867 drums (520 pounds each) in the 1949-50 season to 402,182 drums in 1950-51. Rosin consumption for ester gums and synthetic resins increased at the same time from 199,862 drums to 319,878 drums. Chemical uses for rosin are second to that for paper and paper size, which last year accounted for 30.4% of the total 1.5 million drums consiuned industrially. Chemical and pharmaceutical uses were 26.7% of the total, ester gums and resins 21.2%. Chemicals have a larger percentage use of turpentine. In the past season they accounted for 7 1 % of the total 152,836 barrels (50 gallons each), while ester gums and resins consumed about 14% of the total. Chemicals, drugs, gums, and resins comprised the largest turpentine consumer, taking about 130,000 barrels of the industrial total. Second largest turpentine consumer is the paint, varnish, and lacquer industry which is credited •with consumption of 13,293 barrels. A N D
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