Introduction

Abstract

The steel industry is a significant industry with global revenues of approximately US$3,000 billion in 2011 (Global-Insights 2012). Regionally, steel production is located mostly in Asia (i.e., especially China, Japan, and Korea), North America, and Europe as illustrated in figure 1. Interestingly, steel production in North America and the European Union is basically stable or slowly shrinking, whereas Asia’s steel production, especially in China, is growing rapidly. This trend is also evidenced by the nation of origin for the largest steel producers; i.e., of the top five global steel producers, three are from China, and the remaining two are from Europe and South Korea, respectively (WSA 2012a).