Production Up.

Production Up. TIME'S production index rose two full points last week to 154.4 (estimated). Final figure for the previous week (ended June 28) was 152.4. Many basic steel mills worked right through Independence Day, thus keeping the steel rate at over 93% of capacity. The steel industry is now 60% devoted to defense production.

If anything brings steel production down, it will probably be a shortage of pig iron and scrap. Pig was close to formal priorities last week, with defense already taking almost all its output. Scrap is short partly because it is under badly adjusted price controls, without sufficient price-incentive to hinterland junk dealers.

Carloadings exceeded 900,000 the last week in June, for the first time since 1930. Power output was also up (see p. 62).

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