World Steel Industry

Steel and the recycled material are among the top products in the manufacturing sector of the world, especially in Asian countries that literally dominate the steel industry. India has recently started to become one of the fastest growing steel industries, and thus came to be considered as possible global steel hub, at an international level. The world steel industry has recently witnessed an enormous growth and development, especially because of the liberalization policies adopted in the worldwide.
The steel industry is a booming one, increased demand, especially due to the development projects existing now in almost all sector and service of industry and economy. Among these projects is the worldwide ongoing attempt to improve infrastructure, or even real estate projects, which, for the past years have made into a million-dollar industry and not only in highly developed countries, but also in developing countries.
The early sixties brought an important change and development in the steel industry, which was going to last for 14 more years. With the doubling of steel consumption, the rate grew to 5.5 %, followed by a period of deceleration, which culminated in 1982. The decrease eventually slowed down and finally moves upward in the early 1990s. A sector of industry until recently dominated by the US, India is also coming at rapid pace, and its Indian Steel Companies have launched a real acquisition spree.
Recently, India has been behind two major deals: The Mittal Steel (Holland), and the Tata Steel of India or TISCO, taking over the world's largest steel company, Arcelor Steel to become Arcelor-Mittal, while TISCO acquired the 5th biggest steel producer in the world, with highest stock price, Corus.
The steel industry benefits of a privileged and strong financial condition and position, since the demand of steel is only increasing, for different projects to be finalized, pushing producers work well over their operative capacity. Every passing day the Steel Industry is becoming more and more of a competitive sector. The major demand for steel comes from industries such as the Automobile industry, Construction Industry, Infrastructure Industry, Oil and Gas Industry, as well as Container Industry.
In order to minimize production cost while maximizing production figures, the innovations in the Steel Industry are visible in the cutting edge technologies used for production, like the thin-slab casting, or the production of steel using electric furnace, vacuum degassing, etc. Globally, in 2004 the steel industry turned into a billion tons industry. This growth depends solely on the consumption of steel in the developing countries.