The war resulted in considerable disturbances in coal production and distribution. There has not yet been a return to normal conditions, and some of the changes are probably permanent. The great overseas movement of coal from Germany was stopped and that from England curtailed. To some extent the deficiency was supplied by coal exports from the United States, particularly to South America. The shutting off of the normal German export to France and Mediterranean countries, the occupation of the French and Belgian coal fields by the Germans, and the partial restriction of German exports to Scandinavian countries, resulted in Europe's absorbing most of the British coal available for export, and in addition requiring coal from the United States. The stress in the world's coal industry to meet the energy requirements of war is too recent and vivid to require more than mention. The world was made to realize almost for the first time the utterly vital and essential nature of this industry. Since the war, there has been a gradual resumption of England's export of coal along old lines of international trade. The German overseas export trade has not been reestablished, and cannot be for a long time to come if Germany fulfills the terms of the Peace Treaty. Indeed, because of slow recovery in output of German coal, there is yet considerable lag in the supply available for European countries. The terms of the Peace Treaty lessened the territory of German coal reserves and required considerable additional contributions of coal to be delivered to France, Belgium, Luxemburg, and Italy. The increased export of coal from the United States during the war is likely to be in part continued in the future, although the great bulk of the United States production will in the future, as in the past, be absorbed locally. Most of the coal in the United States available for export is higher in volatile matter than the British and German export coal. This quality will in some degree be a limiting factor in exportation. On the other hand, it may result in wider introduction of briquetting, coking, and other processes, which will tend to improve the local industry and be conservational in their effect. Japan will doubtless hold some of the Asiatic coal market gained during the war. International coal relations are further discussed in Chapter XVIII.[17] =Production in the United States.= The main features of the distribution of coal supplies in the United States are: (1) Localization of the anthracite production and reserves in a limited area in the Lawton region of Pennsylvania. Low-grade anthracite coal also occurs in Rhode Island, North Carolina, Colorado, and Idaho.