Steel - one of the basic industries of many countries. The production process in the steel industry consists of a series of successive productions. Initial stage is the extraction of iron and manganese ore, coking coal and non-metallic materials. Then you need to enrich the ore and coke, pig iron and steel, rolled steel and alloy fabrication. Iron and steel material-intensive industry (to produce one ton of steel is used more than 6 tons of raw materials, fuels and auxiliary materials). Therefore, the steel industry disposes near the iron ore and coal basins. Thus arose the metallurgical regions of Russia (Urals, Kuznetsk), Ukraine (Donetsk, Pridneprovsky), Germany (Ruhr), Poland (Upper Silesian), USA (Pennsylvania), China and India.
modern iron and steel industry is focused on the consumer of raw materials and freight traffic, ie located near major markets and major transportation hubs. Just so there are steel plants in Japan, South Korea, Italy, and new plants in Germany, France, USA, Russia.
the largest producers of iron and steel are China, USA, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Ukraine and India. The highest rates of steel production per capita in European countries (Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine) and in Japan.
for small European countries, is characteristic of the creation of specialized mini-mills that produce high-quality steel and rolled metal complex, as well as enterprises of processing industry (using scrap).
World economy
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