Question

Give a brief account on the following:

Iron and Steel industry

Answer 1

It forms the base of all other industries and, therefore, is called a basic industry. It is basic because it provides the raw material for other industries such as machine tools used for further production. It may also be called a heavy industry because it uses large quantities of bulky raw materials and its products are also heavy. Iron is extracted from iron ore by smelting in a blast furnace with carbon (coke) and limestone. The molten iron is cooled and moulded to form pig iron which is used for converting into steel by adding strengthening materials like manganese. The large integrated steel industry is traditionally located close to the sources of raw materials – iron ore, coal, manganese, and limestone – or at places where these could be easily brought, e.g. near ports. But in mini steel mills access to markets is more important than inputs.

This industry is one of the most complex and capital-intensive industries and is concentrated in the advanced countries of North America, Europe and Asia. In the U.S.A, most of the production comes from the north
Appalachian region (Pittsburgh), Great Lake region. The industry has also moved towards the southern state of Alabama. The Pittsburg area is now losing ground. It has now become the “rust bowl” of the U.S.A. In Europe, U.K., Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Russia are the leading producers. In Asia, the important centres include Nagasaki and Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan; Shanghai, Tientsin and Wuhan in China; and Jamshedpur, Kulti-Burnpur, Durgapur, Rourkela, Bhilai, Bokaro, Salem, Visakhapatnam and Bhadravati in India centres.