Tuesday, April 23, 2013

A Global Steel Industry

The once simple steel industry that Carnegie dominated in the late 1800’s is a much different one today. Steel is not produced mostly in the United States like it was back then, and is a much more global market. Here are the top steel distributors in the world, and how things are looking for them at the moment.

3. United States

The United States produced 88.6 million tonnes of steel in 2012, which put it third on the list for steel production. The United States is nowhere close to being the king of steel like it was a few decades ago, and it probably won’t reclaim its throne for quite some time. Steel production in 2009 was a rough year, but production has picked back up thanks to the help of governmental projects and a resurging economy. Many steel producers in the United States like Capital Steel & Wire compete with steel giants abroad by producing higher quality and more reliable steel at higher prices. With India right behind the United States in production, it probably won’t be long until the United States ranks fourth in largest steel producers.

2. Japan

Surprising to many is the fact that Japan is the second largest steel producer in the world, producing 107.2 tons in 2012. With some of the largest ship building ports in the world, Japan produces a large percentage of the world’s steel for ships. Additionally, Japan is home to some of the largest car manufacturers in the world, which all require large quantities of steel for production.

1. China

What should come as no surprise is that China is once again at the top of the list for steel production, producing 715.5 million tons in 2012, which was 46% of the entire world’s steel production. This tremendous output of steel is a result of a huge need for steel internally, the ability to make steel in super huge quantities at lower prices, and a large workforce available and willing to provide the human labor. China was one of the few countries that didn't lose a step in 2009, when the entire world steel industry seemed to lose ground, and they don’t seem to show any signs of slowing down.

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