Explain the Iron and Steel Industries?

The iron and steel industry is the basic industry since all the other industries — heavy, medium and light, depend on it for their machinery. Steel is needed to manufacture a variety of engineering goods, construction material, defence, medical, telephonic, scientific equipment and a variety of consumer goods. Production and consumption of steel is often regarded as the index of a country’s development. Iron and steel is a heavy industry because all the raw materials as well as finished goods are heavy and bulky entailing heavy transportation costs. Iron ore, coking coal and lime stone are required in the ratio of approximately 4 : 2 : 1. Some quantities of manganese, are also required to harden the steel.