----+---------+----------+---------- Year| Quantity| Value |Unit value ----+---------+----------+---------- | _Pounds_| | 1918|6,477,841|$2,666,634| $0.412 1919|1,243,841| 363,744| .292 1920|2,151,475| 388,047| .180 1921| 249,658| 35,994| .144 1922| 223,146| 23,223| .104 1923| 232,830| 34,389| .148 1924| 51,364| 8,016| .156 ----+---------+----------+---------- Source: Commerce and Navigation of the United States. Appreciable quantities of phenol have been exported in recent years to Japan and China, and to Great Britain and other European countries. Export statistics, collected by the U. S. Tariff Commission from the several domestic producers, show the following quantities exported in recent years. TABLE 65.—_Phenol: United States exports, 1934-36_ ----+---------+--------+---------- Year| Quantity| Value |Unit value ----+---------+--------+---------- | _Pounds_| | 1934|2,622,900|$329,269| $0.126 1935|2,921,835| 322,933| .111 1936|1,258,244| 148,501| .118 ----+---------+--------+---------- Source: Data obtained by the U. S. Tariff Commission through questionnaires. In 1934, the principal destinations in order of importance were China, Italy, and Canada; in 1935 Germany, China, Japan, and Belgium; and in 1936 China, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Competitive conditions. Before the World War our average annual consumption of phenol was 5 million pounds, of which about 80 percent was imported from Great Britain and Germany. These countries produced phenol in excess of their consumption, and phenol was on the free list in the United States. In September 1916 phenol became dutiable. The demand was increasing rapidly because of the use of phenol in the manufacture of picric acid, an explosive. To meet the wartime demand at home and abroad large scale production of synthetic phenol sprang up in the United States. But the end of the war not only shut off the largest part of the demand but left the producers with large stocks on hand. The price dropped sharply and the production of synthetic phenol ceased. Since 1922 there has been a gradually increasing demand for phenol in the United States, chiefly for use in the manufacture of synthetic resins, and production has increased to meet this demand as shown in table 66. TABLE 66.—_Phenol: United States production, imports, exports, and apparent consumption in specified years, 1918-37_