BUSINESS
BEHIND THE
MARKETS
HARRY STENERSON, Associate Editor Synthetic vitamin A assured of important markets in pharmaceuticals, foods, f e e d s , and exports . . . Early price reductions on high-potency items f o r e s h a d o w k e e n competition for these o u t l e t s . . . Vitamin retail sales over $ 1 8 8 million vitamin A manufacture is one S YNTHETIC of the new and promising ventures in ganie chemicals. At least four of the largest fine chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies are already in t h e field, and the prospects are bright for increased volume in hoth the domestic a n d foreign markets. Until recently, t h e vitamin A demand h a s been supplied chiefly b y fish livers and fish liver oils, from the West a n d East Coasts of the United States as well as imports from Norway, Newfoundland, Canada, Iceland, Japan, and Union of South Africa. The extraction a n d processing of vitam i n A obtained from these materials is a big business. At one time during the w a r vitamin A supplies on hand, contained in livers, liver oils, and concentrates, totaled 88 trillion units, and a d r o p later to 51 trillion units caused some apprehension. When imports were cut off, domestic fish oils came in for a bonanza in the form of rocketting prices. The souph'n shark, with an exceptionally large liver, provided an oil which contained the highest known concentration of vitamin A of any fish in American waters, and it w a s exploited almost to t h e point of extinction. Prices for shark livers rose from 18.6 cents per pound in 1937 to $6.00 a n d $7.00 in 1944. For a time it was $9.25 per pound. T h e return to fishermen for sharks was catapulted out of $500,000 a year into the $8 million bracket. Fish Oil Imports Heavy Today, sharkliver oil is imported from C a n a d a and elsewhere in large volume along with codliver oil, and one would not conclude from the 1949 imports that a n y great fears w e r e entertained over the possibility that this business would b e p l a c e d on the defensive by synthetic processes. Imports of fish livers a n d fishliver oils d u r i n g the 10 months e~ded with October amounted to 14,513,230 lb. T h e s e imports at one time were running 3 7 % beh i n d t h e previous year, b u t their volume increased considerably during October. It is difficult to arrive at a dependable estimate of annual vitamin A sales b y processors, but it can b e assumed that t h e volume and dollar figures for this vitamin are far greater than any other i n this classification. A recent t r a d e surv e y indicated that vitamin sales at t h e retail level totaled $188,012,000 during 1948 and $188,566,000 during 1947. Of ithis total, high potency items prescribed (616
for specific vitamin deficiencies represented about 309c of the total. F o r t h e same year, the Tariff Commission reported that vitamin sales by manufacturers as organic chemical products, excluding vitamin A, amounted to 1,561,700 lb., valued at $29,298,000. These figures a r e not to b e confused with the retail dollar volume noted above. Effect o n Markets W i t h four manufacturers turning out high-potency synthetic vitamin A at lower prices, the effect on t h e products obtained from natural sources will be watched very closely. It is certain that competition in the vitamin A field will be m u c h more spirited in the months ahead. T h e markets are important, and arc offered b y the pharmaceutical, food, feedstuffs, a n d export trades. Distillation Products, Inc., Rochester, and Hoffman-LaRoche, Nutley, N . J. have been turning out synthetic vitamin A i n limited quantities with different processes for some time. T h e DPI product is a light yellow acetate oil with faint aromatic taste a n d odor. Both manufacturers supply their products at a potency of one million USP units per gram. O n F e b . 6, Roche announced a reduction of 10 cents in its product to 30 cents p e r million units, and indicated that it h a d built inventories to the point where it could book orders for t h e product in large volume. T h e Roche vitamin is a palmitate instead of an acetate, a n d is produced through a synthesis that was first announced by one of the company's chemists before the Swiss Chemical Society in August 1947. Prices for its synthetic vitamin A were also lowered recently by DPI. Chas. Pfizer & Co. a n d Merck & Co. are two other manufacturers who have entered t h e synthetic vitamin A business. Pfizer, Merck, and Hoffman-LaRoche are using t h e same synthesis. Pfizer has been turning the product out in largescale pilot plant quantities a t Groton, Conn., a n d expects to b e in full commercial production in a short while. Merck is also t u r n i n g the p r o d u c t out in limited volume and t h e company expects to attain full production in a few months when its facilities are completed. Increase in Coke Ovens After a year of declining coke-oven chemical production due to steel and coal work stoppages, it is encouraging to find t h a t construction of new coke ovens, upon CHEMICAL
which» chemical manufacture is heavily dependent, showed a good increase i n 1949. A preliminary report from t h e Bureau of Mines reveals that 465 new ovens were constructed during the year with an annual coke capacity of 2,295,000 tons. Coke-oven expansion, moreover, is proceeding a n d w e find that 2 5 8 ovens were under construction at the close of the year with an annual capacity of 1,568,000 tons. Some of the new ovens, of course, are replacements for obsolete facilities, and in the absence of figures covering the replacements, it is not possible t o arrive at a definite total for the actual new capacity added. Chemical makers also want to know to what extent by-product ovens replaced the old beehive-type ovens which do not yield chemicals. T h i s information is undoubtedly available from the bureau. There was a drop of some 15% in coke production in 1949; also some good-sized reductions in the by-product chemicals. Hence, it is surprising to find t h a t yearend inventories of chemicals in some instances were much larger i h a n t h e y were one year previous. Stocks of ammonium sulfate, for example, were 139.4 million p o u n d s against 48.7 million pounds at the end of 1948. Inventories of crude naphthalene w e r e 1.3 million against 1.2 million for t h e material solidifying at less than 70° C , a n d 11.6 million pounds against 3.8 million pounds for naphthalene solidifying between 70° and 79° C. There were also increases in year-end stocks of motor benzene; the nitration and industrial grades of toluene; xylene; and refined ( 2 ° ) pyridine. Less Industrial Benzene Supplies of some other coke-oven essentials went down as the result of coking suspensions and continued industrial demand. Nitration grade b e n z e n e went down from 1.9 million gallons in 1948 to 1.1 million; industrial pure b e n z e n e from 182,657 to 314,570 gal.; solvent naphtha dropped from 325,605 to 275,348 gal.; and crude pyridine bases from 105,004 to 82,571 gal. T h e loss in ammonium sulfate production was more than compensated for by a very substantial rise in t h e o u t p u t of ammonium sulfate made w i t h purchased ammonia, or so-called synthetic ammonium sulfate. T h e latter e x p a n d e d from 61.4 million pounds in 1948 t o 115.6 million pounds in 1949. W e are still heavily d e p e n d e n t upon steel operations for our coal chemicals, as will b e seen from shipments of coke to iron blast furnaces which were 8 1 % of all coke deliveries. Consumption of foundry coke was only 4 % of the total shipped, and the amount of coke used in t h e manufacture of producer gas a n d w a t e r gas remained at around 7% of the total. There are now 85 active coke-oven plants which provide coal tar; 6 4 which make ammonium sulfate; 17, ammonia liquor; 28, naphthalene; 57, benzene; 55, toluene; 50, xylene; 34, solvent n a p h t h a ; 28, pyridine; and 6, creosote oil. AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
