Over the last 50 years, the Global steel industry has seen a lot; by that, we mean a lot. Changes in the production dynamics, shift in the dominant producer, techno-changes, new emergence of problems, and the list goes on and on. So, let’s explore this list and see what has been happening in the Global steel industry in the last 50 years. The 1970s picture: In the 1970s, the significant producers of Steel were the US, Japan, and the western European nation, and these nations had domination in the industry. Due to the culture of heavy investments in technologies and innovation, there were a lot of technological advancements in the steel industry, resulting in better infrastructure and related developments. With all the factors in place, Japan was the second largest producer of Steel, after the USA and Germany, and the UK too had a significant share in the steel industry. But all this changed in the next decade due to emerging economies like China and India. The 1980s picture: Later in the 1980s, China, India, and Brazil, like emerging economies, started challenging the Dominance of the US and Japan. Cheap labour, available raw materials, favourable government policies, and market demand are some of the factors responsible for this. Also, on the other side, there was an industrial consolidation due to increasing production and decreasing profitability, which resulted in the closing of numerous steel plants. So, what happened next: The main this which happened later was TECHNOLOGY, New technology considerably changed the steel industry, including production, structures, and whatnot. It led to the Automation of the production facility. With this, there is good energy management as well. Due to new technologies, an industry like the steel industry, which uses heavy energy, has reduced its usage due to many technological advancements reducing manufacturing costs. Also, these technologies have been continuously used in the Industry to improve efficiency and productivity and reduce costs today. But the environment wasn’t so pleased with the steel industry.
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