British coal tar is principally of gas-house origin and contains a higher percentage of tar acids (cresylic acid and phenol) than coke-oven tar, the principal kind recovered in the United States. The recovery of these tar acids from either kind of tar is usually not practicable, unless the distiller can dispose of the major products, creosote oil and pitch. British distillers have in the past ordinarily had a market for all their products; exporting large quantities of creosote oil to the United States, pitch to continental Europe, and tar acids and naphthalene to the United States, Germany, and other countries. Domestic distillers have sold cresylic acid, creosote oil, naphthalene, etc., in local markets in competition with duty-free imports from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, but have found it difficult to dispose of pitch. The domestic production of coal tar ordinarily exceeded 600 million gallons, approximately one-half of which has been burned as fuel. Since the profit in distilling depends upon the markets for all of the joint products of the distillation, the large amount remaining undistilled can be understood. The domestic production of cresylic acid may be expected to increase substantially, for several reasons: (1) The principal foreign producing countries have decreased exports because of increased demand for some of the coal-tar distillation products at home; (2) increased world prices; and (3) the development of topping, which allows the production of tar acids and naphthalene from coal tar without complete distillation. Imports of refined cresylic acid are unimportant because the duty on the refined is high relative to the duty-free condition of the crude. Most of the imports of refined are either reexported or used in the manufacture of one proprietary antiseptic. The principal domestic market for cresylic acid is as a raw material for synthetic resins, and most of the domestic refined and most of the duty-free imported crude is now consumed by this industry. It may therefore be said that practically all imports of cresylic acid are duty-free and that, while they are sometimes refined by the consumer, they compete directly with domestic production of refined grades. Phenol, already discussed, is closely related to cresylic acid—in chemical composition, in production by distillation from coal tar, and in use as a raw material for synthetic resins. To a considerable extent the proportions of phenol and cresylic acid used in the manufacture of tar-acid resins can be altered to take advantage of the changing price differential between the two.