In March 1945, Soviet manganese ore reemerged. The United States was the principal buyer, receiving 1,168,000 tons in about 4 years. In February 1947 the Soviet Foreign Trade Journal pointed out the importance of the United States to future Soviet plans for the export of manganese. But late in 1948 the Kremlin suddenly reduced its shipments to the United States almost to the point of embargo. A few shipments trickled in during the next 2 years and stopped entirely in 1951. Meanwhile deliveries to Western Europe did not undergo a compensating rise; they were little more than 100,000 tons a year. Came the season of the last half of 1953 and the early part of 1954. The Kremlin's zeal for exporting manganese bloomed again. Commitments to ship over 300,000 tons of the ore were written into trade agreements with Western European countries. Offers of manganese reached the United States through various channels. Chrome is usually part of the package when manganese is sold. As could be expected, Soviet chrome commitments also climbed in late 1953. There was also a revival of activity in the export of silver, platinum, and palladium. =The Emergence of Russian Oil= But a more interesting commodity which the U.S.S.R. has begun to put on the market in bigger quantities was oil. In approximately the last half of 1953 the U.S.S.R. made agreements to ship to free-world countries about 3.5 million metric tons of crude petroleum, kerosene, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products. The countries due to receive the largest amounts--if delivered--were Finland, France, and Argentina. Other customers were Greece, Italy, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, and the Netherlands. Some deliveries were made in 1953; more would be made in 1954; there was no certainty that all the commitments would be fulfilled. But even a two-thirds fulfillment apparently would be enough to hoist petroleum ahead of lumber and furs and place it second only to grain among Soviet exports to the free world. What would this mean to the free world? What problems would it raise? Again we can find clues in the past. The present situation is not the first time that the U.S.S.R. has created a stir by abruptly entering oil markets. This also happened in the late 1920's, when the U.S.S.R. began exporting large amounts of oil as a means of obtaining industrial imports. These exports grew each year and were 6.1 million metric tons in 1932. This was around 10 percent of the world's oil exports, and was almost 30 percent of Soviet oil production at the time. The United Kingdom and Italy were the major customers for this oil, but there were many others. The marketing was done through various channels. The Soviet monopoly that controlled all oil exports set up a network of sales offices abroad. Long-term contracts were made in Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.