Steel Industry

Steel is one of the most common components that are found today, it can be found in automobiles, appliances, buildings, etc. Steel is an alloy consisting of a mixture of iron and carbon. Different properties of the mixtures decide the quality of the steel. The hardness and strength of steel can be enhanced by increasing the carbon content in the alloy.
Use of steel became common after many efficient ways of producing steel were invented in the 17th century. Bessemer process, Basic Oxygen Steelmaking helped in lowering down the cost of production as well as enhancing the quality of the product.
Bessemer process produces steel using molten pig iron. The process is carried out in large ovoid steel container called Bessemer container. Then comes the oxidation process, which removes impurities such as silicon, manganese and carbon as oxides. In the end other substances can be added to get the desired properties of the steel. The raw material required for the process is bars of wrought iron.
Basic Oxygen Steelmaking is the improvement of the Bessemer process. In this method carbon rich molten iron is made into steel. The byproduct of the process is the low carbon steel as oxygen is blown through the molten pig iron.
Open Hearth Steelmaking is a process of producing steel where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron. Due to their fuel inefficiency most of the open hearth furnaces were closed by 1990’s and were replaced by basic oxygen furnace.

Steel industry is considered to be an indicator of economic growth as steel plays a critical role in infrastructural and overall economic development. In recent years the demand of steel has been on a constant rise and between the years 2000 – 2005 the demand rose to about 6 %. The largest producer of steel is Archelor Mittal followed by Nippon Steel, JFE of Japan. It became billion dollar industry in the year 2004 and still growing.
Today Steel Industry is no more labor-intense industry. There is a dramatic change in the modern steel plants which employs fewer people. Steel industry reduced its manpower around the world by more than 1500,000 in 25 years. In USA it was downsizing from 521,000 to 153,000, in Japan it was from 459,000 to 208,000 during the period 1974 to 1999.
Countries like China and India saw a boom in their economic growth, resulting in a massive increase in the demand of steel. Recently the production of steel is found to be more in developing countries than the developed ones. China produced 349.36 million tonnes in 2005 which is way much more compared to 112.47 million tonnes in Japan and 93.90 million tonnes in United States.
As the growth in steel production is staggering in China, the focus is now shifting to India. India requires around 300 million tonnes of steel compared to the present production of around 50 million tonnes. But the country’s potential cannot be doubted as the production has nearly doubled in the last 10 years. It is expected that the production will go to about 275 million tonnes by the year 2020.

The steel industry today is vital to both economic competitiveness and national security. Steel is a major component of railroads, bridges, automobiles and appliances etc. Today stronger, more versatile and lighter steel is available in the industry. Archelor Mittal is the leading steel producer, accounting for 10.1% of the global market’s volume.
In 2007 steel production reached to 1343.5 million tonnes showing a growth of over 7.5 % over the previous year. Since the last 5 years, steel production has been growing with 7 % increase. In 2012, the Steel Industry is forecast to have a volume of 1,662.7 million tonnes, an increase of 57.8% since 2007.
The Steel Industry has a value of $ 529.7 billion accounting to 8.2 % growth in the year 2007. In 2012, the Steel Industry is forecast to have a value of $ 759.1 billion, an increase of 43.2% since the year 2007.
Recently it has been found that the focus of Steel Producing Companies have been shifting to seeking merger and acquisition opportunities. Their aim is to solidify and boost their market standing. Germany’s Thyssen Krupp (16 million tons) has long been looking for partners, both in Europe and America. NKK and Kawasaki, two large Japanese companies merged to form JFE.
Few years down the line only a handful of companies will dominate the steel industry producing more than 100 million tonnes a year. In the year 2000, top 5 steel producing companies combined to control 14 % of the market. Estimates show that by the year 2010, the percentage will up about 30%.

Steel is one of the toughest material around which is used in day to day life. The steel is produced and manufactures by several steel industries all over the world. The steel industry that is present in several countries makes use of several methods to ensure that the steel that is produced has maximum quality and the minimum processing costs. The steel industry is an industry which is growing at a rapid pace due to a lot of buildings and constructions that are coming up all over the world. The steel industry is able to manufacture steel with a pre productive capacity. In the coming years, this production will increase many folds due to the increasing demand for steel. China is one of the largest steel production industries. This is because for the large population in china, a lot of steel industry needs to be present for the large constructions that are coming up. Also china’s steel is top quality and is thus exported to several countries all over the world. Many of the Asian countries like India are also leaders in the production of steel. The steel industry in India can boast of production of steel which follows the latest technologies like electric furnace and also takes care of minimizing the production costs and also takes care of increasing the production output. Because of the various policies that are being relaxed all over the world, the steel industry is growing very fast according to their corresponding growing demand for steel.

Steel industry is one of the most growing and active industry in the world. The steel industry is a continuously developing industry which is known for its production of top quality steel. There are several steel industries in this world. The production of steel from a single steel industry is very useful for the economic development of the country. Steel is one of the toughest materials which is recycled and is manufactured by companies and industries all over the world. The steel manufacturing sector is one of the fastest growing sectors which contribute to the economy of the country. The steel industry is one industry where hard work and innovation go hand in hand. This is because in the steel industry with the raising inflation all over the world, one needs to take necessary steps to reduce the amount of costs that are involved and at the same time maximize the production efficiently. The production of the steel industry has been growing each and every year. There are several technologies that are involved in a steel industry. These technologies are namely the slab casting which is thin, production of steel with the help of an electric furnace etc. these technologies are used by the steel industry all over the world to ensure fast top quality production of steel. Because of the real estate boom, the steel industry has an opportunity to continue growing and thus increase their productions many times. The steel industry is thus one of the most important industries in any country.