Crystal urea production in the United States was begun in 1935 and was largely made possible by the larger volume of urea in ammonia solution manufactured for fertilizer use. Prior to that time our requirements of crystal urea were imported, principally from Germany. Consumers of resin grade urea report that the domestic product is as good or better than the imported from Europe. The domestic output of crystal urea in 1936 showed an appreciable increase over that in 1935. Statistics of imports of urea are given in table 88, showing imports of all grades combined. Up to 1931, and again in 1936, the imports were probably all for fertilizer use. From 1931 through 1935 some portion of the imports went into the manufacture of resins, but even in this period most of the imports were probably used in fertilizer. TABLE 88.—_Urea: United States imports for consumption, 1919-20 and 1923-37_ -------------------+------------+----------+-------+---------- Year |Rate of duty| Quantity | Value |Unit value -------------------+------------+----------+-------+---------- | | _Pounds_ | | 1919 |25 percent | 14,290| $9,741| $0.682 1920 | do | 23,693| 14,085| .594 1923 |35 percent | 45,711| 5,892| .129 1924 | do | 94,307| 12,891| .137 1925 | do | 146,438| 15,886| .108 1926 | do | 377,729| 30,346| .080 1927 | do | 813,120| 51,799| .064 1928 | do | 1,788,927|101,900| .057 1929 | do | 4,588,313|228,401| .050 1930: | | | | Jan. 1-June 17 | do | 2,459,140|120,263| .049 June 18-Dec. 31|Free |17,843,840|719,982| .040 1931 | do |11,695,040|445,674| .038 1932 | do | 7,291,200|267,787| .037 1933 | do |12,918,080|483,238| .037 1934 | do |10,850,560|423,675| .039 1935 | do | 8,189,440|379,427| .046 1936 | do | 6,095,040|272,679| .045 1937[1] | do | 5,297,600|266,166| .050 -------------------+------------+----------+-------+---------- [1] Preliminary. Source: Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States. Table 89 shows the sources of imports of urea in recent years. Germany has supplied from 90 to 100 percent of the total quantity, and Canada and the Netherlands the greater part of the remainder. There have been occasional shipments from Belgium, France, and Japan. TABLE 89.—_Urea: United States imports for consumption by countries, 1931 and 1933-37_