Big Steel

The steel industry occupies a strategic position in the global economy. Steel is a major, heavily traded commodity whose availability is necessary for worldwide economic development. Yet, with the introduction of new technologies and producers, particularly China, the industry has become volatile. Prices fluctuate, the industry is vulnerable to oversupply, and the cost structure encourages volatile prices. Big Steel explores how the integrated steel industry is adapting to trade and international competition. The unexpected merger of the world’s two largest steelmakers, Arcelor and Mittal, portends massive consolidation as a strategy to diversify markets and stabilize a globalizing industry. Daniel Madar examines the industry’s tactical and strategic responses and the repercussions of innovation from various vantage points, including cost structures and technology, export pricing strategies, the economics of trade protection, and Paul Krugman’s Nobel Prize-winning explanation of industrial diffusion and trade. Along with the survival strategies of consolidation and protectionism, Madar considers close co-operation between steelmakers and their primary customers, the automakers. Presented in a straightforward, non-technical manner, this book describes how one strategic industry has adapted to powerful technological and structural changes, ushering in a new phase in the global steel business.