quality control, and eventual use of nuclear energy. The
direction of technological change is influenced by relative
factor prices, with the greatest efforts being made to devise .
technologies that save the scarcest and most expensive inputs.
One promising possibility for a technological oreakthrough
~'-;9
in the steel industry is the development of formcoke. Formcoke
is the generic name for a number of different processes, all
of which share common characteristics in'~hât prepared coal is
broken down physically, carbonized with a binder added,
and
shaped (usually as a briquette to more or less uniform
dimensions), and is capable of withstanding the blast furnace
burden. Because of its greater strength, formcoke is less
liable to degradation and could be transported easily and
economically. Additionally, it can utilize a certain proport ion of non-cok ing coal, wh ich is abundant in many par ts of
the world.
Raw Materials
According to the theory of comparative advantage, nations
tend to export those goods or commodities for which they have .LJ
a comparative advantage and import those for which they have
a comparative disadvantage. Since the U.S. is one of the great
repositories of the basic raw materials from which steel is
made, this factor should favor U.S. competitiveness in world
'markets.
Steelmaking requires large amounts of raw mater ials. The
i
i
production of one ton Of steel requires on the average about
-30-
2.5 tons of iron ore, coal, limestone, and scrap. The major
steel producing countries vary in the extent to ~hich they rely
on imported raw materials; however, the steel industries in
Europe and Japan are more dependent than is the U.S. steel
industry. Table 2.9 shows the extent to which the major
produc ing countr ies rely on imports of scrap, iron ore, and
hard coal.
