iron and steel industry introduction
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The iron and steel industries are among the most important industries in India. During 2014 through 2016, India was the second largest producer of raw steel[1] and the largest producer of sponge iron in the world. The industry produced 82.68 million tons of total finished steel and 9.7 million tons of raw iron. Most iron and steel in India is produced from iron ore.[2]
Policy for the sector is governed by the Indian Ministry of Steel, which concerns itself with coordinating and planning the growth and development of the iron and steel industry, both in the public and private sectors; formulation of policies with respect to production, pricing, distribution, import and export of iron and steel, ferro alloys and refractories; and the development of input industries relating to iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore and refractories etc., required mainly by the steel industry.
Most of the public sector undertakings market their steel through the Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The Indian steel industry was de-licensed and de-controlled in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
iron is most widely found in the crust of the earth, in the form of various minerals (oxides, hydrated ores, carbonates, sulphides, silicates and so on). Since prehistoric times, humans have learned to prepare and process these minerals by various washing, crushing and screening operations, by separating the gangue, calcining, sintering and pelletizing, in order to render the ores smeltable and to obtain iron and steel. In historic times, a prosperous iron industry developed in many countries, based on local supplies of ore and the proximity of forests to supply the charcoal for fuel. Early in the 18th century, the discovery that coke could be used in place of charcoal revolutionized the industry, making possible its rapid development as the base on which all other developments of the Industrial Revolution rested. Great advantages accrued to those countries where natural deposits of coal and iron ore lay cl