钢铁行业变化

The two line graphs illustrate developments in the UK steel sector over the 30-year period from 1970 to 2000, in terms of supply, demand and employment. Overall, both total UK steel demand and domestic production saw substantial declines, while imports of steel rose considerably over the period. In addition, the workforce in the UK steel industry shrank dramatically. In 1970, total UK demand for steel stood at 200,000 units, compared to 165,000 units produced domestically and a low of just 10,000 units of imported steel. By 2000, UK steel demand had halved to exactly 100,000 units, while domestic production also fell by almost half to 80,000 units. By contrast, imports had increased eightfold to reach 75,000 units by the end of the timeframe, closing the initial gap between domestic supply and total demand. Employment in the industry also plummeted over the same period, starting at 50,000 workers in 1970. This figure dropped to 40,000 by 1980, then fell more steeply to 21,000 in 1990, before ending at around 17,000 workers in 2000, less than a third of the 1970 level.