1.15. "m-
U. S. IMPORTS
CRUDE RUBBER
AUGUSl
1940 JULY
1941
Status
Crude Rubber E. G . HOLT Bureau of Fordgn and Domentic Cmmmerca, u. s. Ikprtmollt of commams,wdlbgton,D. C.
means that for twenty-five yeam our rubber indwtry has thought in terms of volume we of plentiful materid, which is not the h t preparation for an emergency in which comrvap r o m h g be limited to conservesupplien? tion must be practised. The 6mt point is that rubber is indispawble to our eccPoint four in our present mtuation in that we am dependnomic nyntem. It is the key to mechanical transport, not ent on the Middle b t for ow supplies of rubber. The only the movement of goode and individu.de by motor truck, production them must be maintained,fbe political control of bus, and paseenger oar, but slso the trandm'cm of el&e power in insulated wire, the transport of solids upon conthat pruduction must be in the bsnda of friendly foreign Mtions, and means of trsnsport to the U& States must be veyor and e l m t o r belting, and the transport of liquids and made aye.ilable, if ow nation in to be mum during the next gams by lineaof W b l e hoee. e d yearn. We can and nhouldu88 mom reolaimad rubber, The Becond point is just MW becomiq fully ~ @ s : Anytbg that ntimulates general business sctivity has a but we must a h continue to make new rubber producta direct bearing on the amount of rubbp thin country requh. to keep up our nnrnprubber h c k pile. We can and should build up nynt.heti0 rubber planb, but i6 will take n e v d In other words, you can't do more businerVr without more rubber. F'mpamtionn for defense am a Stimuhu to busiaess, yearn. We am aad ahould dewlop rubber pI8nbtions in ne.sr-by nuibble erebll (both hema plantations in h t i n and it has become apparent that it in a stimulns to civilian h e r i m and guayule in &he U n W &tea), but it would rubber repuirennente, not only to rubber demsnd for defense equipment such as motor trucks, tab, airplsnes, and "jeep". The continued supply of civilian rubber needs is little lean sesential to this nation than the provieion of rubber for defense. Defense repuirementa may have added nesrly 60,oOO tons to our rubber connumption in the year ended June 8oandmayc~for1oO,oOOtonsthisyear, butevensoitwould of rubber pmducta, which we cannot now, it would not eave represent lean than 20 per cant of the total. two weeks' supplies in a year. A third point is that supplien of rubber have been ample The rubber-produoing count& in the Mid& Eaet am the only nourcea which am supply our needs for m d yearn to enough ever since the first World War to keep its price much lower than in the yearn when ow big compmieswerebeingd e mme. This nation is therefore bound to the Middle E& veloped, except for a short period of n d t y cawed by Britinb economicslly by ita needs for rubber and tin,just as ita social restriction in 1925. Thus, an industry founded on a highsnd political future is tied up with that of free peoplps m y priced raw materid, which suddenly became cheaper, hsd to whm. Open eealsnesackoes the Paci6c am just as eaaential h d a way to reslise the usual amounh of d o h from ita as the trans-btlsntic routes. We m o t with safety more o p t i o n s in order to support ita finsncisl structure. Thst tban tempolarilJr abandon a freedam-of-tbwtn policy. way was found by in& the volume of pmluction, and The tactias of offensein this war are to probe for the weak volume grew h o s t as much by using mom crude rubber per spot, drive in with c o n e t a d fore3 on that Spot, SeeL to unit of product as by p t e r diversitv nf pmducta. This encimle, isolate, and blockade the strongholds of the de-
HE United Btatea has more crude rubber within ita borT d s r s now than ever before in Mary. Why, then, must
1339
1340
VoL 33, No. 11
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
fender. There oan be no doubt that unfriendly foreign auknow the facta of our Nbber situation better thsn does our d e a beriaau public. Becsuse Nbber is more or laa an Achilles heelin our defense,it has long beenlisted among the leading Btrategic mStari&. Two years sgo we began building a governmentrubber stock pile. Rubber w88 among the first industrim to re& considemtion from the Nstional Defense A d h r y C o m m i ~ o nlaet yenr, and thj, yeaf it in the first placed under full government control in the abaenae of any actual shortage of raw msterials.
Government Rub*
Reaervea
Much time could be spent discussing the negotiations and developuaents in connection with our rubber Btock pile. We first traded800.000 bales of cotton for mmetbm . over 85,000 of rubber k 1939, and that exaha~@w88 % efiect completed last Noyember 80 when the government iwerve 6gtue firm exceeded 85,000 tons. Through the Rubber Reserve n e made tlma submlueht oommitmantafor 150,000,18o,ooO, and 100,000tom,renpectidy, atohlot 430,ooO. The tow government rubber reserve on hand A u w t 31,1841, w88 228,551 tons, including so-called blvter rub& with holdinas of the Rubber Reserve Company. We are not yet halfwai to the already established goal for rubber reserves.
One of the s e v d reaaons why the rubber WNW w m dow in mumulating was that we were continually reaching new high record6 of consumption during that period. Not until Japaneae occupation of southern Indo-China this year threataned our rubber and tin supply h e did we take action, and the limitations then made dective on rubber processing coincided with 05cial abandonment of a defensive policy of cone6listion for a still patient but now strong and firm attitude against further Japanese e o n . Trade knowledge that the 05ice of Production Management was consid-
plies according to a schedule which haa been drafted by the
office of Production Management and the 05ice of Price Xdmhktration and Civilian Supply for the laat six months of fhis year. If tlre mended schedule is maintained, and if rubber arrival8 should come forward without interference at an expected average rate of 100,OOO tons monthly, OPM has oaloulrrted thst we shall have 577,000 tons of rubber in the United Ststea at the end of this year, and we shall have used over 740,000 tons during the year. Since this calculation, previously unknom 8toCks of rubber (28,OOOtom)have unexPeotedly be811reported, 80 that adjusted yearend stocks might exceed m;000 tom. It in expected that arrival8 during late months of this year and early 1942will be stimulated by the Augu~t19 announce ment of the International Rubber Regulation Committee that 120 wr cent Dermissible WDO& will be allowed for the final qua& of 1641. The p& is inclined to attribute tbiszo per mt inareese to war needs of Rueaia, plus uncertgintim numnmdq ' Thailand and Indo-Chins; but probably it ia the dof intlumce from the United States Government stemming from the critical Bitustion in the Far Eaat 88 a whole. Theincreaseinquotaisexpedsdtostimulatefull~utrubber production and accelemte shipments with the uta& rapidity during the remainder of thin year. It does not follow, however, that actual exprta will- equal permissible exporte, although the final qua* is the 8811$on81peak of crude mb& production. Production lagged behind 100 per cent e b l e exports during the first half of thin year. Even if rentridion authoritien in British Malaya and the Netherhdu Indies should remove stii existing reatriotions on production by mall holders and nativa for the next few months, the pmgram for permisaible expo& is unlikely to be realised in full. Production should, however, set a new high record for the quarter, barring nnfomeeable interference. At present there is plenty of ship cargo spsce for the importation of available suppliles of rubber, and that condition
Effeetiuenars of Butyl Rubber a Gas Barrier: SulfurDbxide-Fiued Balloonr bs-
(~d
fore (above) and after (beloa)
Test
0-.
Natural rubber
.
S
~
O
N m J-
i
l
~
W
,
Butyl rub&
ering regulation of proces%ing caused the industry to use extremely large quantitiee of rubber in every month of the
in expected to continue, again barring unfomeeables which could occur any day.
nsaond qusrter-71,000 tom in April and in hby, and 85,000 tons in June-againnt a firstquarter average of 66,000 tons. Never Wore this year had the industry used 60,OOO tons of rubber in a single month. And 80 we m e to the centxalbed government handling of iuporte. apdsvenuneut allocation and distribution of s u p
Rubber Industry Control The most important single fact in tbis quick review ia that the rubber manufacturing induatry has become, for the duration of the emergency, almost a n a t i o d v run nuhlic utility.
d
Nor&,
1941
I N D u s T R I A L A N D B N G I NR'E;
ING
cHB M I sTR Y
1341
Rubber importarn and tradershave in effect been pensioned to sumption of rubber products. This might m c h into greater p m m the trade machinery for future we. Regulations control of industriea using rubber products and even to inrequire the authorities to tell each manufactum how much dividual tire wen. When the war began in 1939, the Gemurn rubber he can use. The Government haa to treat all firms Government con6scated the tires on every private motor CBT alike only up to a certain point; beyond that it can d e exat once. The percentage of reclaimed rubber required there to be used in eaoh rubber article was definitely specified much tra allowances of rubber to any h. Further, it can require production of whatever gooaS are nscemary for national d s earlier. Toward such extremes, di5cult as they would be under our economic system,our Government has merely taken fense, either direct or i n M defense. In the absence of any actual shortage of rubber, for total stocks in this count& grudging initial mBa8uTe8. (probably 450,000 tons today) rn at a record high level for all time, it bsa neverthaless been neceaesuy to regulate rubber processing 111)a measure for our national sanuity. This -tion has set in UNITED STATES IMPORTS motion a ourrent that may eatend beyond control of imCRUDE RUBBER porta and processing to actual final consumption. Control THOUSANDS OF SHORT TONS of one part of an industry affects other parts; control of any whole industry d e c k other parta of the whole economicsystem; regimentation of any nation affects and influence d other nations. Control over rubber procwing needs to be coordinated with production of motor vehicles, atTecting the automobile industry, other industries which supply it with materials, and employment in those industries. The need for coneervation, if the emergency is intenei6ed, may atTect motoriata and otherwersof rubber prcducta throughout the country, as well as distributors Serving those consumers. Those m w u m are, under normal conditions,ineompatible It is beginning to be questionad whether the amount of with our democratic traditions and institutions and our comrubber scheduled for prooessing will auffioe for both governpatitive sptem, although fully jwti6ed under the enmgeacy. How e5cientJy American industry can operate under contml ment and civilian requirements. Replacement tire buying was 2,000,000 units greater in the second quarter of thk y ~ a r will be the n u m k one queation for the next few m o n k than last year, and codtinued to exceed lset year in nearly It had one previous experience,brief and not fully succaasful, in NRA dap, and now if there is need,we can only bow that the m e percentage for July and probably August. The 26.5 per cent cut in output of pasllenger cars through Novemformer experience may enable u8 to do far b e k . ber will scarcely more than &set the expectd inoraase in d e The neceesity of an understanding cooperation fmm the mand for rubber equipment for motor trucks and defeme general public in the attsinment of national rubber objectives item. Manufacturers' inventories of tiree rn shrinking is already apparent. Our domeatio economy is hinged upon faster than was expected. Manufscturers am reported to be free and extansive we of motor cam, which are oonsidered eg scaling down admce orders for rubber fwtwear by 35 px sentid by users, in peacetime or in war, and their use depends oent, as they are unable to accept the full ordera. The emeron rubber tirea. Foreign authorities, amraisina our strempth gency meaaurea already in force. which were abeolutely neceg and wegknessee, knowthis. The pbbii; mu&-be led to &ssry, have at once crested many problems and necessitated d e h d the situation. important edjusbents in manufacturingand trade. The experience to date in attempts to ration gaaoline conDoes anyone doubt that unfriendly foreign nations would sumption in Atlantic states are not promising of better nsulb, interfere with our rubber supplies to weaken u8 if they saw a on a national male, in the saving of rubber by cmmmere. favorable opportunity? The prolonged stout resistsnce that The only sure way of limiting 6naI consumption of gasoline Rue& in making furnishes m e gmund for hope that the and rubber tirea involwa drastic mesdlllpd to whiah the situation may not become worn. Government must resort if the situation beoomea acute. Between the extremes of German c m h l and American fm Further Control u88 of motor vehicles, a middle ground dependent on the exIf, however, the full war emergency matwialises (and the tent of the emergency must be found and made &&ve. fortunes of war are uncertain), the steps thus far taken would How to implement them and similar mewurea for other indue appegr as mere prdhinan'ea to government control over tries, in a free society, may be our immediate national p b other phases of rubber manufacture, trade, and final conlem.
