Iron and Steel Worlds Statistics

IRON AND STEEL: WORLD'S STATISTICS. In tracing the development of the world's iron and steel output it is necessary to commence with Great Britain, for although the out put of pig iron in Great Britain was in 1938 only 8.4 per cent of the world's total and of steel only 9.9 per cent, nevertheless Great Britain was the birth-place of the modern iron and steel industry, and many of the developments connected with the industry origi nated there. Until 1871 the output of pig iron in Great Britain exceeded that of all other countries put together; in 1890 Great Britain was for the first time surpassed by the United States: in 1904 for the first time by Germany, and in 1921—owing to a coal stoppage—for the first time by France. In 1931 the output of Russia exceeded Great Britain for the first time.

According to Mushet the output of pig iron in Great Britain in 172o was 17,35o tons but T. S. Ashton, in his Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution, gives reasons for thinking this too low, preferring the estimate of William Rea, an ironmaster of Mon mouth, who put the output of pig iron at this period at about 25,000 tons per annum; he also points out that Scrivener's History (p. 57) wrongly gives 1740 as the date of Mushet's esti mate, an error which has been followed by almost all writers since. The 25,00o tons produced in 5720 had risen to 68,30o tons by 1788; but, whereas the majority of the furnaces in 1720 had been charcoal, 55 in 1788 were coke furnaces. It is not possible to describe the reactions of improvements in blast furnaces upon the demand for iron, nor of the demand for iron (created by engineering inventions) upon blast furnace improvements; suffice it to say that by 184o production of pig iron had risen to 1,396,000 tons; by 1860 to 3,890,000 tons; and by 188o to 7,750,00o tons. Having nearly trebled in the 20 years between 5840 and 186o and doubled between 1860 and 188o the increase between 188o and 1900, was no more than 16%, while the output in 1937—the highest post-war year—was actually less than in 1900.

It was not until the development of the pneumatic converter in 1856, a discovery claimed by both Sir Henry Bessemer, an Eng lishman, and William Kelly, an American, that the production of steel at relatively low prices was made possible. This was fol lowed by the discovery of the open hearth process by Siemens Bros. in 1864-67. Between 1877 and 1883 another obstacle to low cost production of high grade steel was removed through the perfection by Sydney Gilchrist Thomas and his cousin, of a tech nique for removing phosphorus from steel during the processing period. The influence of these improvements on steel production is indicated by the rapid expansion of output in Great Britain. From 220,000 tons in 1870, it had grown to 4,900,000 tons by 1900. By 5920 it had almost doubled again, and in 1937, just four score years after the introduction of the pneumatic con verter, it reached the all time peak of 12,960,000 tons.

It is impossible to trace, even in this broad outline, the progress of development in the other iron and steel producing countries. In all cases except where the industry is of comparatively recent growth, iron was first smelted with charcoal, and coke but slowly won its way: e.g., mineral fuel was first used in France in 1782,

but by 1819 only two furnaces were using coke out of a total of 35o (Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, vol. i., pt. I, 1856, quoted by Ashton) : but in all countries the great bulk of the steel output is made by the Siemens process which, since its discovery, has been rapidly supplanting the pneumatic con verter process because of its economy and regularity of opera tion. In 188o open hearth production in Great Britain accounted for about 20% of the total output, but by 1936 it had grown to close to 95%.

Pig Iron : World Output.

It will be seen from the following table that in the 1 oo years ended 1910, the average increase in world production of pig iron in any decade was 6o%, while due to the dislocation caused by the World War, a loss of 3% was ex perienced in the io years ended 1920. However, in the decade ended 1930, the upward trend was resumed and an increase of 26% was recorded. A contributory cause of the slow growth since 1910 is that since the Wor'd War a greater proportion of steel scrap has been used in steel-making. The rate of progress of steel output has also been checked by the war, but, owing to the poses other than for steel making, by the increased use of scrap and by importation from America.

increased use of scrap, the increase in output in 1937 compared with 191O (125%) is much greater than in the case of pig iron.

Outputs of Pig Iron and Steel by Chief Countries.—The following tables give the output of pig iron and steel of the chief producing countries, of pig iron at the end of each decade from 185o onwards, and of steel from 1870 onwards, in 1915 ,..nd in certain years since 192o:— *Prior to 1920, Lorraine is included with Germany, but since that date with France. Austria is included with Germany from March, 1938. Poland through 1919.

The British production of steel since the war has exceeded the output of 1917 only since 1934. In 1937, the year of the highest production of record, the output was 33% above the peak of the World War years. However, in the case of pig iron making, the record of 1917, 9,320,000 tons, has never been equalled in the post war years. In 1937, pig iron output was 9% below the 1917 total.

Iron and Steel Exports.

Table IV. which gives the exports of iron and steel (as far as possible according to the Board of Trade's classification) from chief producing countries shows that exports from Great Britain have not yet reached the record figure of 1913 when they amounted to nearly 5,000,000 tons. The best British post-war years have been 1923, when exports from Euro pean countries were curtailed owing to the Ruhr occupation, and 1927 when arrears accumulated during the coal stoppage of 1926 were being worked off. The decline in the British export trade has taken place in spite of great reduction in prices for, as shown by the Board of Trade's price index number, prices of iron and steel products have been falling since the end of 192o, and in March, 1928, prices were on the average only 13% above 1913.