problems of iron and steel manufa
cturing in japan
Answers
Answer:
The Indian steel industry is contemporary with state-of-the-art steel mills. It has always tried for continual modernisation of older plants and up-gradation to higher energy efficiency levels.Indian steel industry is categorized into 3 categories - major producers, main producers and secondary producers.
The major issues faced by Indian Iron and Steel Industry are-
1. Capital:
Iron and steel industry needs large capital investment which a developing country like India cannot afford. Many of the public sector integrated steel plants have been created with the assistance of foreign support.
2. Lack of Technology:
Material value productivity in India is still very low. In Japan and Korea, less than 1.1 tonnes of crude steel is needed to generate a tonne of saleable steel. In India, the average is still high at 1.2 tonnes. Improvement in the outcome at each stage of output, particularly for value added products will be more significant in the coming years.
3. Low Productivity:
The per capita labour productivity in India is at 90-100 tonnes which is one of the lowest in the world. The labour productivity in Japan, Korea and some other major steel manufacturing countries is about 600-700 tonnes per man per year. Therefore, there is a serious need to improve the productivity which needs retraining and redevelopment of the labour force.
4. Inefficiency of public sector units:
Most of the public sector units are afflicted by inefficiency influenced by heavy investment on social expenditures, poor labour relations, inefficient supervision, underutilisation of capacity, etc. This hinders adequate functioning of the steel plants and results in heavy losses.
5. Heavy demand:
Even at a low per capita consumption rate, demand for iron and steel is progressing with each passing day and large amounts of iron and steel are to be imported for meeting the needs. Production has to be improved to save precious foreign exchange.
Explanation:
The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the weakening of domestic needs. Furthermore, tepid global demand, cheaper exports by China and an ambitious net-zero emission target to develop cleaner steel have all come together to negatively affect the country’s steel sector.
According to an S&P Global Platts report, Japan’s iron and steel product exports fell 4.9% year over year to 32.14 million metric tons (MT) in 2020.
Quoting from data from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation, the report noted total exports to the US fell 30.5% year over year to 890,000 MT. That marked the fourth straight year of decline since reaching 2.06 million MT in 2016.
A slight recovery in December saw exports rise by 5% from November to 2.56 million MT. Hot-rolled wide strip steel accounted for the bulk of the ordinary steel products exported.
In fact, for the first time since 2009, as the S&P Global Platts report noted, Japan’s crude steel production fell below the 100 million MT mark.
Production fell 16.2% year over year to 83.19 million MT in 2020, according to the World Steel Association.
The country’s crude steel output fell 3.9% in January this year from a January