● Both the United States and Japan have significantly increased the industry concentration to a high level in the middle and late stages of their large-scale development.
●It is not difficult to find from the development of the steel industry in the United States, Japan and other countries that at the same time as the rapid development of the steel industry, the strategic layout of the main upstream raw material resources such as iron ore requires the government to attach great importance to it.
The American steel industry has a long history, dating back to the 1720s. However, the real rapid development of the American steel industry began in the 1860s. With the rise of the second industrial revolution, the wave of American industrialization reached its peak, and the United States rose to become the world's most comprehensive country and dominated the world for nearly a century. Although the history of the rise of the steel industry in the United States is quite long, and it has been far from the center of the stage in the economic development of the country and the world, the industry highlights have disappeared. However, from the perspective of the process of the industrial revolution and the transformation of economic structure, the history of the development of the US steel industry still has a lot of enlightenment for the development of my country's steel industry.
External factors contribute to the flames, the steel industry flourishes and declines
Analyzing the development process of the American steel industry, we have to mention the first and second industrial revolutions.
The first industrial revolution in Western countries began in the 1860s. In the wave of the first industrial revolution, mechanized operations rose, and factories became one of the main organizational forms of industrialized production and played an increasingly important role. Britain performed most prominently in the first wave of industrial revolution, rising to become the world's first industrialized country in the 1840s. But the good times didn't last long. Less than two to three decades after the end of the first industrial revolution, the second industrial revolution kicked off. On the basis of the first industrial revolution, the second industrial revolution promoted the shift of the focus of industrial development from labor-intensive light industry to capital-intensive heavy industry through technological innovation, energy revolution, and large-scale production, and derived a series of An ecological chain of upstream and downstream industries centered on steel.
The second industrial revolution greatly promoted the economic development of the West and promoted the formation of colonized and colonized systems worldwide. In fact, World War I was the result of the intensification of contradictions in the process of partitioning up colonies and semi-colonies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America during the transition from capitalist countries to imperialism. The Second World War was due to the excessive development of capitalism, which led to the intensification of social contradictions such as oversupply of products and unequal distribution of profits. Following the wave of the second industrial revolution, the United States quickly developed and surpassed Britain to become the world's largest country by virtue of the market opportunities brought about by the two world wars.
From the 1860s to the mid-20th century, the large-scale development of the US steel industry throughout the entire process of the second industrial revolution, which promoted the rapid development of the country’s manufacturing, urbanization, and overall national strength. After 1956, with the rise of the Japanese steel industry and the successful transformation of the US economic structure, the US steel industry has gradually entered a stage of adjustment and upgrading. From 1956 to 1981, the average annual growth rate of crude steel production in the United States was only 0.1%. Under the influence of market demand and competition, there were continuous fluctuations in increase and decrease. Meanwhile, the US crude steel production set a record high of 136.8 million tons in 1973, accounting for 19.8% of the world's total. In the same year, Japan's crude steel production also set a record high of 119 million tons, accounting for 17.3% of the world's total. Since then, the Japanese steel industry has matured, and the trade war between the United States and Japan has continued. In the future, China opened the prelude to industrialization and gradually became a global supplier, and the U.S. steel industry declined.
Specifically, the development history of the U.S. steel industry can be divided into the following stages:
From 1860 to 1900, the start was also a takeoff
With the unfolding of the second industrial revolution, a large number of innovative technologies and market demands have emerged in the US steel industry. The annual output of crude steel in the United States increased from 13,000 tons in 1860 to 10.35 million tons in 1900. In the past 40 years, the average annual growth rate of crude steel production in the United States has reached 18.2%.
The reason why this stage is both a start and a take-off is that the US steel industry, which is still in its infancy, has not only strongly promoted changes in the US industrial structure, but also quickly occupied the commanding heights of the world. In 1884, the proportion of U.S. industry in the national economy surpassed agriculture for the first time; in 1886, the U.S. surpassed the then largest country—the U.K., with 2.6 million tons of crude steel output; in 1899, the U.S. became the world’s 43rd largest country in crude steel output. % Of the largest steel country. In other words, although the US steel industry was still in its infancy at the time, the US was already the world's largest and most competitive steel power. During this period, the United States superimposed the crude steel output of Britain, France, and Germany, and accounted for 83.2% of the total global crude steel output. However, there were basically no large-scale steel companies in Asia at that time.
It can be said that the development of science and technology has provided the United States with a historical opportunity for its rise. The United States accurately seizes the opportunity, makes full use of the rich domestic resources, and gives full play to the advantages of large-scale development.
1901~1920 thrive
In the first 20 years of the 20th century, the U.S. crude steel production increased from 10.35 million tons to 42.8 million tons, with the highest global share reaching 60%. The crude steel output of the United States far exceeds the total crude steel output of the United Kingdom, Germany and other European countries. At the same time, the crude steel output of European and American countries accounted for 91% of the total global crude steel output. Therefore, it is not unreasonable for some scholars to call the second industrial revolution the industrial revolution of western countries. However, while Western countries are actively carrying out the industrial revolution, China is still in the stage of the last feudal dynasty in decline, poverty and weakness.
In the 20 years that the U.S. steel industry has grown steadily, it is not only the continuous expansion of production scale, but also the innovation of technology, the increase of industry concentration, and the rapid accumulation of industrial capital. As the world's largest steel company at the time, U.S. Steel was not overtaken by Nippon Steel until the 1970s. It carries the technological progress of the American steel industry, and also represents the development of modern management of American companies and the accumulation of industrial capital.
The U.S. steel industry has closely linked domestic energy and mineral resources with downstream manufacturing into an industrial ecological chain. Around the steel industry, it has rapidly developed aluminum, glass, automobiles, machinery, electrical, military, and aerospace industries, which has promoted the United States. The rapid economic development promoted the country's production miracle in the second industrial revolution. In terms of industry concentration, in 1901, the U.S. Steel Company, co-founded by Carnegie alone, controlled more than 60% of the crude steel output in the United States, and continued to achieve mergers and reorganizations in the following years. In 1906, the United States built the first electric furnace, which opened the curtain for the development of American electric furnace steel.
1921~1955 fierce turmoil
The reason why this stage is called a fiercely turbulent development stage is that in the 30 years from 1921 to 1955, the United States not only experienced a global economic crisis, but also triggered a years-long economic depression. The Second World War.
In 1920, US crude steel production was 42.8 million tons. During the Great Depression, American crude steel production dropped sharply to 13.9 million tons. From 1930 to 1932, crude steel production dropped by 37.6% annually. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the United States tapped a huge market demand during the war. In 1955, US crude steel production reached 106 million tons. At this stage of development, US crude steel production still maintained an average annual growth rate of 2.6%.
From the perspective of the development of the steel industry and the rate of urbanization, in 1955 the US steel industry completed the stage of large-scale development, and the country’s urbanization rate reached 67.16%. It is worth mentioning that on the eve of the end of World War II in 1945, the US government considered how to combine national scientific research with wartime experience to guide the future, establish new businesses, increase new employment opportunities, and improve people's living standards. After 8 months of research, Vanneval Bush, then US President Roosevelt’s scientific adviser, published the report "Science: Endless Frontiers" on July 19, 1945. The report puts forward science and technology as a core task of the postwar construction of the United States, from the strategic level (the position and role of science and technology in national development), the policy level (the government's role and responsibilities in the development of science and technology), and the methodological level ( Specific discourses on science and technology, such as basic research, laid a solid foundation for the rapid development of science and technology in the United States after the war.
1956~1975 Transformation and upgrading
At this stage, the world has gradually entered a period of peaceful development, and the US economy has also ushered in a golden period of development. Except for the steel industry, most of the country's manufacturing industries have obvious competitive advantages in the international arena.
After the U.S. steel industry has experienced the first three large-scale development stages, its economic strength and overall national strength have been greatly enhanced. At home, the United States urgently needs to further transform its economic structure to maximize its economic benefits. Abroad, some countries represented by Japan are actively seeking economic development after the war. As a result, the United States began to transfer some of the traditionally backward and relatively inefficient industrial production capacity (including crude steel production capacity) to other countries such as Japan.
In the 1970s, with Japan’s post-war reconstruction, Japan surpassed the United States with 111 million tons of crude steel output in 1980, becoming the world’s largest steel producer. All economic transformations must go through a painful stage of development. With the rise of the Japanese steel industry, production costs rose, and technology was caught up, the United States in the 1970s and 1980s experienced a rather difficult transition process.
1982~present, heading for decline
Affected by the Japanese manufacturing industry, many steel mills in the United States were forced to close. At the same time, with the advancement of domestic industrialization and the successful transformation of the industrial structure, the US steel industry also withdrew from the domestic leading industries and began to decline. From 1982 to 2020, the average annual crude steel production in the United States was 87.5 million tons (in 2020, the US crude steel production was 87.76 million tons).
The prosperity and decline of the US steel industry conforms to the laws of its own economic development. It is also the inevitable result of the economic development of a few other countries that have successfully achieved industrialization. In fact, since 1956, along with the advancement of the industrialization process of Japan and other Asian countries, the United States has also launched a trade war against Japan from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. However, more than 30 years of trade war did not prevent the post-war rebirth and rise of Japanese manufacturing until the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1998.
Take a lesson from the stones of other mountains
Learn from the past, know the comer. Although the history of the rise of the US steel industry is quite long, from the perspective of the process of the industrial revolution and economic structural transformation, the history of the development of the US steel industry can still bring enlightenment to the development of my country's steel industry.
The increase in the concentration of my country's steel industry has been significantly lagging behind, and its side effects have continued to appear. Both the United States and Japan have greatly increased the industry concentration to a high level in the middle and late stages of their large-scale development. In almost all countries that have successfully completed industrialization, the rapid development of the steel industry is both a cause and an effect. The development of the steel industry is not only related to the issue of the safe supply of upstream resources, but also to the issues of downstream manufacturing capabilities and global competitiveness.
With the rapid development of the steel industry, my country’s long-term guarantee of coking coal, iron ore and other upstream raw materials must be resolved urgently. According to 2020 data, my country's crude steel output accounts for about 57.5% of the world's total output. Among them, blast furnace pig iron output accounts for 68.3% of the global blast furnace pig iron output. Iron ore is one of the main raw materials for blast furnace production. my country's import dependence is as high as 82.4%, and it accounts for 75% of the total global shipping volume. With such a scale of steel supply and iron ore demand, my country especially needs to attach great importance to the strategic guarantee of resources and take a long-term view in order to give full play to the advantages of market-for-resources. From the development process of the steel industry in the United States, Japan and other countries, it is not difficult to find that with the rapid development of the steel industry, the strategic layout of the main upstream raw material resources such as iron ore requires the government to attach great importance to it. Of course, this requires strong industrial capital and the strength of overseas investment and management.
my country's steel scale has been fully developed, and it is expected that in the future, it will focus more on operating benefits to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises on a global scale. In the context of global currency oversupply, mineral resources, as non-renewable resources, will continue to be overestimated in value. The resource-consuming manufacturing industry should fully consider the issue of high resource premiums to ensure the operating efficiency and global competitiveness of steel and its downstream manufacturing industries. This requires companies as micro-individuals to closely follow changes in market demand and respond quickly, transforming large-scale supply into market resources in exchange for operating profits.
Source: China Metallurgical News
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Post time: Aug-19-2021