3 ms·
Take a look at the steel statistics on pages 5-7 of this report: https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/historical-statistics/ds140-feste.pdf https://minerals.
by philipkglass 8y ago
Take a look at the steel statistics on pages 5-7 of this report: https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/historical-statistics/ds140-feste.pdf https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/historical-statistic...
US apparent steel consumption was 97.8 million tons in 2012, the latest date available. That's a bit lower than the 106 million tons in 1968. American steel consumption has declined about 40% per capita. The US steel industry would have had to ramp up exports very aggressively to remain as large a portion of the US economy as it was in the 1960s.
- sitkack 8y ago> American steel consumption has declined about 40% per capita. I wonder how much of that is from import auto sales? Or an overall drop in civic projects?
- philipkglass 8y agoIt's measuring consumption, so I think that imported goods are included. My top guesses as to causes would be a reduced pace of building/infrastructure construction, reduced steel content in cars, and cars lasting longer.
- gregpilling 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System The interstate highway system got passed in 1956. It is now comprised of almost 50,000 miles of highway, and cost almost $500 Billion in todays dollars. There would have been a whole lot of rebar used in the construction of all the concrete - bridges, overpasses, the concrete sections in Los Angeles and other high volume areas