Abstract
Steel has become a big part of our life like sleeping or eating because it composes a major part of items that bind them. Therefore, the steel market saw a lot of variation during History. Steel demand shows growth periods such as the beginning of the 20th century with the Industrial Revolution or after the Second World War for the reconstruction. Nevertheless, steel demand also saw a huge decrease since the 80's and the oil shocks: protectionist policies, energy costs influenced the steel market (-17.6% only for EU between 1974 and 1985). However the production has increased since the beginning of the XXIst century, as the demand of developing countries like China increased too (+6.9 % between 2000 and 2005). There are two different ways to produce steel. These two ways use a lot of energy (40% of total price in specific countries) and raw materials: iron and carbon. The steel industry experienced a huge increase at the end of the Second World War due to the reconstruction; follow by a growth phase: the Glorious Thirties. This development continued, encouraged by the fixed minimum prices of governments. The economic crisis of 1974/75 broke this impulse as well as much of the world demands. The next period until the 90's completely changed the steel industry and the strategies of steel producers.
