Big Steel

Steel is the mainstay of the world’s major industries. World steel production has grown dramatically as countries industrialize and add their own steel-producing capacity. China’s prodigious expansion of steel output increases the industry’s natural vulnerability to oversupply and volatile prices.

Big Steel explores how the integrated steel industry is adapting to trade and international competition. These arise from the industry’s diffusion beyond its historical core in North America and Europe. To show how this occurred, Big Steel applies Paul Krugman’s Nobel-Prize-winning explanation of industrial location and trade. The industry’s technology and economic structure, and the pricing strategies available, produce fateful competition and incentives to consolidate internationally. Examining the industry’s survival options, including close co-operation with its primary customers, the automakers, this book anticipates a cosmopolitan future. It is a straightforward account of a complicated process, and the development of a new phase in the global steel business.