Economic and financial section > Coal problem

22
Consumption of Coal in European Countries. 1 2
Countries
Exporting countries :
United Kingdom
Germany
Poland •
Czechoslovakia
Importing countries :
Northern Europe
Western Europe
Southern Europe
Central Europe :
Austria and Hungary .
Metric tons (ooo,ooo’s)
1929 193°
1924
l86
135
21
24
14
125
21
II
179
169
33
28
18
146
28
14
172
147
25
24
16
144
25
11
1931
161
123
24
23
15
132
22
10
It would seem that the consumption of coal in the four exporting countries has
fallen in the aggregate since 1929 in the same proportion — by a little less than one-
fifth as production. The drop in the importing countries has apparently been much
smaller. It has amounted to about one-tenth in western, southern and central Europe,
and was negligible in the northern countries. .
As already mentioned, the above figures do not allow for stocks, and, in view ot
the recent increase in coal stocks, the figures for 193° an<^ I93I overstate actual
consumption. .
It has been mentioned above that the coal output in Europe decreased from 1929
to 1931 by about 16 per cent. That the demand for coal has fallen off more may be
concluded from the fact that general industrial activity in the European countries
decreased by roughly 20 to 25 per cent during the same period. As a result, considerable
stocks of coal have accumulated, as will be seen from the following figures :
Coal Stocks in Belgium, Germany, Saar and Polish Upper Silesia. 3
Metric tons
June 30th, 1929 2,958,000
December 31st, 1929 4>997>000
June 30th, 1930 13,988,000
December 31st, 1930 17,419,000
June 30th, 1931 19,663,000
December 31st, 1931 20,714,000
Large stocks have likewise accumulated in France and the United Kingdom. In
the former country, the stocks were estimated at 770,000 tons at the end of 1929, at
2,860,000 tons at the end of 1930, and at some 4,700,000 tons at the end of I931- ^
The total stocks of coal and coke in Europe have been estimated at some 25 to
30 million tons and in the world as a whole at approximately 70 million tons at the
end of 1931.
1 The figures include, in addition to coal, also lignite, coke and briquettes in terms of coal, but disregard
stocks.
2 Provisional figure.
3 Institut fur Konjunkturforschung, Berlin.