Heavy industry

The term of heavy industry in general indicates the activities requiring, to exist, the use of tools and very important capital. There does not exist official list of the activities considered as belonging to heavy industry. One can however regard the sectors related to the production or the transformation of Raw materials as the mine S, the Métallurgie, the Papeterie and the Chimie of first transformation as being examples of what one usually classifies in heavy industry . Certain activities with dominant mechanics or electric like the Naval construction or the Electrical production are also of good examples.

Principal characteristics

Tools

As example, in Iron and steel industry, the investment related to the construction of a factory " standard" rough sheets starting from ore, of a capacity of 5 million tons per annum, can reach 1700 million euros. The amount of this " ticket of entrée" thus imply often:
  • a participation or a protection on behalf of the states, to constitute as well as to perennialize industrial tools
  • the permanent modernization of the existing tools, less expensive as the construction of new installations
  • of the important fluctuations of the selling prices (like the gasoline or steel), due to the fact that the offer can only evolve/move more slowly than the request

Capital

The tools being dimensioned to produce, with the lower costs, of great quantity of products, the purchase of the raw materials becomes stakes essence of the economic performance. One can note that the purchase price of the Barrel of petrol represents half of the price of the heavy fuel on the European domestque market. The low added-value is thus an essential characteristic of the heavy industry, which then privileges the quantity to find margins acceptable.

One can as notice as the iron and steel plant referred to above, of a capacity of 5 million tons per annum, generates a sales turnover of approximately 3500 million euros. The mobilization and the reduction of the Working capital then represent also stakes essence.

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