Scandinavian iron ore mining and the British steel industry 1870–1914

Abstract

Until the year 1856, when Bessemerpatented his new process for the easier and' cheaper manufacture of wrought iron, the production of iron in Great Britain in the form of cast and wrought iron had predominated over its conversion into steel. In the early 1850s only a very small percentage of the annual output of pig iron was converted into steel. Although in Bessemer's patent, only wrought iron was specified as the object of the new process, it was recognized that the real value of the process lay in its applicability to the conversion of pig iron into: steel in a single short operation. There was an inevitable lag in the widespread adoption of the new process for which a number of factors were responsible. Firstly, there were initial disappointments over the effectiveness of Bessemer's process: although Mushet's addition of spiegeleisen to the molten metal in the converter rescued Bessemerfrom failure,¹ several years of technical improvement and improvization were necessary before the generality of manufacturers were' ready to concentrate on Bessemer steel,² A second important cause of the delay in the widespread adoption of the Bessemer process lay in the susceptibility of the British iron and steel industry to severe cyclical fluctuations. By the middle 1860s, when the conservatism of steel manufacturers was beginning to thaw in the face of successful production by the early pioneers of the Bessemer process, a more general development of Bessemer steel seemed likely. These years, however, were years of the depression which reached its nadir in 1867–8. Only when recovery from this depression was well established at the end of the decade did Bessemer steel really come into its own. The real expansion of Bessemer steel production came, therefore, not in the few years after 1856, but in the few years after 1870. Steel rails accounted for a large part of this increase. In 1867, some 2,277 tons of Bessemer steel rails were made in Great Britain: by 1882 this figure had risen to 1,438,155 tons.³     

An overview of the state and priorities of the iron and steel industry in the Russian Far East

This article considers the problems of the Russian Far East for which a new course of strategic development has been proclaimed. The growing demands of the region’s economy for diverse metal products make it necessary to initiate organizational reforms determined by the actual state of things. The reforms will include the construction of new iron and steel works and the development of a full-range iron and steel industry in the region.     

中日钢铁产业国际竞争力比较分析

钢铁工业一直是关系国计民生的重要产业,受金融危机影响,我国钢铁产业面临严峻的挑战,如何战胜挑战重塑自身的国际竞争力已成为国际上关注的一个热点问题。本文以中日钢铁产业的国际竞争力为分析视角,通过选取市场占有率(MS)、贸易竞争优势指数(TC)和显示性比较优势指数(RCA)这三种常用指标进行比较分析并提出了对策建议。     

Study of Chinese iron and steel industry on continuous development

This paper analyzes the development status of Chinese iron ＆ steel industry, points out the problems that exist, and describes the development prospect of Chinese iron ＆ steel industry. It lists the reasons that we must choose the means of continuous development on the way to realize the change from an iron ＆ steel big country to an iron ＆ steel powerful country. Finally, some suggestions for the stable and healthy development of Chinese iron ＆ steel industry are put forward in the paper.     

1927-1937年中外资本的活动与中国铁路建设的规划和实施

本文扼要分析了1927-1937年中国铁路建设的规划、建设资金的筹集、新建铁路的里程，以及建设成本等问题，并对相关数据作了整理和估计。     

A comparative study of the development mode of China's iron and steel industry

The development of China's iron and steel industry (ISI) is an important indication of China's industrialization. This paper analyses the industry from the perspectives of historical retrospect, international comparison and sustainable development. We find that China's ISI has made huge progress at the technical level. During the same period of time its over-consumption of resources and impact on the environment has dropped. However, compared with other main developed steel producers, there is still a big gap. Besides, its openness is still much lower than those of other countries.     

专业化结构、产业群与工业园区建设

工业园区是政府合理布局工业的一种方式,其主要目的是为了促进工业企业的集聚。工业园区建设是各国政府推进工业化与城市化的一种重要手段,它早已存在于各国的经济发展过程。但作为一种世界性的浪潮则与20世纪80年代硅谷等高新技术产业集聚区(最初称科学工业园区)的成功有着密切的关系。现今的工业园区建设已成为各国(或地区)政府发挥比较优势,提升产业国际竞争力的一项重要内容。我国工业园区建设的热潮始于20世纪90年代,目前已成为各地推进工业化与城市化的重要措施。本文在廊坊经济技术开发区成立协调之际从区域产业结构演变与比较优势发挥的角度,就工业园区建设提出若干想法,为工业园区发展提供借鉴。     

Baltic iron and the British iron industry in the eighteenth century

Before the revolution in coal technology that swept the British iron industry in the last years of the eighteenth century, native ironmasters were unable to meet the burgeoning demand for malleable bar iron. The shortfall was made good by imports of bar iron from the Baltic, first from Sweden, then from Russia. This article presents new empirical evidence on the role played by Baltic iron in the Georgian economy. It also considers the impact of Swedish and Russian iron on domestic ironmasters as they sought organizational, as well as technological, ways to overcome the energy constraints facing the industry.     

Swedish iron and steel, 1600–1955

Abstract

The sources which may be used to shed light upon the history of the Swedish iron industry from the first half of the sixteenth century onwards are, by any criterion, very impressive. Well-preserved series of accounts give detailed information on the activities of a number of iron-works which the Crown began to establish during the reign of Gustav Vasa (1523–1560) and which were carried on until the opening decades of the 17th century. The Swedish kings energetically directed not only their own enterprises but also the production at the many small privately-owned furnaces and forges which continued to be responsible for the major share of the total output; they were also an important object of taxation of which the Crown kept detailed accounts. The state's own iron-working activities were abandoned in the 16205, but central direction of the industry continued and was shortly entrusted to a special department of state, the Board of Mining and Metallurgical Industries (Bergskollegium], The archives of Bergskollegium provide a fund of information on the history of the metallurgical industries looked at from the viewpoint of the central government. The customs' accounts offer primary material for the statistics of exports during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th. Thereafter, however, the primary material has only been sporadically preserved. But as early as the 17th century customs' accounts were worked up into statistics of foreign trade in order to provide information for purposes of commercial policy.¹ After 1738 they continue as a most impressive series of uninterrupted statistics.     

Global climate change and the research on technical paths of Chinese steel and iron industry against the climate change

The article introduces the impact and essence of climate change and analyzes the attitudes and measures of international community to fight global climate change. From the perspectives of Clean Development Mechanism, Voluntary Carbon Market, energy audit and potential carbon asset investment, this paper discusses the feasible paths of Chinese steel ＆ iron industry against global climate change and summarizes the main fields of adapting to the development of CDM project activities.     

Inward industrialisation,subcontracting and the construction industry in the Western Cape

One important aspect of current government economic thinking is that of inward industrialisation. In turn, subcontracting is seen as one of the ways of promoting inward industrialisation. Further, the construction and provision of low‐cost housing is considered by many to be the most important leading sector in generating economic growth.

This paper examines the construction undustry for low cost housing tn the Western Cape, the position which subcontracting currently holds in this industry and the broader implications for inward industrialisation.

The paper is based on the results of a survey carried out in the Western Cape during 1989. The results of the survey suggest the promotion of subcontracting has some positive and some negative consequences for economic development through inward industrialisation. Some doubts are however cast on the ability of the building industry to act as a ‘leading sector’ tn the process of economic development