Sociology

Crude steel production in the world reports this year are encouraging because in the report which is covering 66 countries that are involved in the production and trade of steel product reflect an increase of production by 25 percent in the month of January 2010. In November 2009, the report stated that the crude steel production went up by 24.2 which reflected a positive growth rate. Indeed, the correlation between the change in the crude oil growth rate and that of other industries was 4. China for example, recorded 47.3 million tones in the crude steel production which was a positive growth from the previous by 37.4 up. South Korea production went up by 7.5 from the 2008 record. Japan as well is not to be left behind has positive growth of 0.5 by producing 8.9 million tones (World Steel Review, 2010).

In Russia, crude steel production went as high as 5.3 million tones which was a rise of 42.6  while the Ukraine production was 2.7 million tones recording an increase of 67.1  YoY.  The US steel production went up by 26.9 as at November 2009. The world crude steel utilization  quantities also dropped slightly form 76.9 to 75  as at October 2009 while in the previous year the drop had been larger, 10. 4 (World Steel Review, 2010). There has been a direct proportion between change in industrial output at and a the level of crude steel production in the US

Among the factors that affects the production of crude steel products in the world is the cost of production that is high and need funding from the World Bank for a country in perform in the industry. Another problem is the delays in row material supply which in most cases affect the production speed and market product supply. This leads to low productivity in the industry. For example, the European market for Ferro-manganese which has been relying on high carbon steel for the generation of tipping materials at a tones level of about   1000, is facing stiff shortage on the supply and is almost shifting to alternative tipping materials which are not easy to get.

Economic factors that determine the performance of the steel industry include that demand and supply factors among others. For example, the growth of economy reflects considerable impact in the growth of the steel industry. The success of steel industry in most cases is determined by the level of investment by the government on infrastructure, building and construction companies, and the transport system development. When the economy slows down, it gives an indication of slow development of the steel industry thus a low rate of production.

Employment factors also determine the level of development of steel production. Steel industry is a key employer and has been recording a decline over the years meaning under development of the industry.  Korea and china for example, had a high employment rate in the season between 1974 and the 1990 in their steel industries but this has changed a great deal. In Europe, the rate of unemployment has dropped vastly as well due to the under development of steel industry. The industry requires highly skilled laborers who are well trained with quality management skills and health occupational and safety skills (Janssen, 2009).
 
Marketing factors on the other hand, determine the level of growth in crude steel industry because of transportation cost, type of steel product required and its quality, competition from other related product, international and national development programmes.  For example, Chinas steel imports in the year 1993 had lower import from 35 000,000 tones to 3,000,000 tones. This is shows lower trade in the steel industry. The industry is also affected by environmental factors because it is a heavy industry type.  Site selection will therefore be determined by the size of plant, raw material, environmental factors like the sound , air an water pollution factors. The high energy requirements in the industry usually affect the environment negatively through pollution. An example of expenditure on the environmental conservation by the US steel industry in the past decade is estimated to be about 20,000 billion US dollar.  The recycling of steal usually makes about 40 scrape steel hence an environmental hazard (Eurofer, 2010).

Statistical study has provided that cruse steel in most of the developed economies fetches almost 20 of their industrial capacity. However, there has been a close linkage and correlation between the level of an economies output and the consequential level of purchasing power of the economy. The technological factor that impact on the steel industry  include the skill requirement at different level of production, the scale and size of steel processing, and the need for lower production cost. Production techniques are advancing rapidly hence more complex and requiring more consistency thus production level of crude steel have in effect declined. Political factors also determine the level of development of the industry. Governments protect their steel domestic market through subsides or tariffs that make the industry domestically competitive and cut down import of steel products.  This may have a positive impact growth in the industry. When the government is not in a position to support then steel industry, then trade levels go down and the net effect is under development of the industry.   Organizational factors are part of the development of steel industry. The structure or management at different level is basically crucial. For example, the Nippon steel company in Japan was the best steel company in 1996 with 26,400,000 tones of steel. This attributed to the management standards and political factors as well (Eurofer, 2010).

Generally, the crude steel production industry has been lagging behind in development due to the above mentioned factors as well as the lag in economic development.  However, there is a noticeable increase in the future because so far in January 2010, there was a 25 increase in crude steel production all over the world.