Processing factors contributing to growth and decline in the steel industry

Abstract

During the second half of the twentieth century, a technological shift occurred in the steel industry. A different mix of refining and melting furnaces were used, with increasing use being made of basic oxygen and electric arc furnaces as compared to the basic open hearth. Additionally, continuous casting began to replace ingot casting. Iron ore price, scrap steel price and electricity price were examined as predictor variables for these technological shifts. For the furnace shift, iron ore price and scrap steel price seemed to play a role, though much smaller than the role of time. For the casting shift, only time seemed to be correlated.