WAS BRITAIN AT A NATURAL DISADVANTAGE? 1 03

gium and much less in France and Luxembourg. On the whole,
the cost of coke per ton of iron shows less variation than the cost
of ore. More ore is required than coke per ton of iron — approximately
twice as much on an average — and this must, of course, be borne
in mind when considering whether ore should be brought to coke
or vice versa.

2. THE ECONOMIC AVAILABILITY OF RAW ^
In the above ratio of ore cost to coke cost, the cost of assembly at
blast furnace has been taken into account. At first sight it would
appear more economic to transport ij tons of coke to z\ tons of ore
than vice versa, but as a matter of fact pig iron production is
generally based on taking the ore to the coke. The Lake Superior
ores are taken 1,000 miles to Pennsylvanian coke, half of the iron
made in the United Kingdom is from Spanish or African ores, and,
after the loss of Lorraine, Germany made the greater portion of her
pig iron from Swedish or Spanish ores. The most notable exception,
viz., location of an iron industry on the ore deposits, is, of course,
in Lorraine — where basic pig iron was produced as cheaply as
anywhere in the world.
The chief objection to the transport of coke is that its friability
causes a loss every time it is handled. Whilst coke is itself sometimes
imported, it is not necessary or essential to ship coke, in fact it is
preferable to receive coal and carbonize it on the site, as the coke
and gas are then available where required to give the economy of
technical integration. There is a greater attraction for the iron-
making industry to locate on coalfields than on ore deposits, but it is
not essential for the industry to be located on either, as for example
in the case of Belgium, which imports the bulk of its ore (from
Luxembourg) and coal or coke (from Germany and the United
Kingdom). There are, therefore, other factors in the location of a
successful iron and steel industry than proximity to raw materials.
The cost of pig iron production is made up of the cost of the assembled
raw materials, of labour and of overhead charges; the ideal arrange-
ment is, of course, to have blast furnaces on the site of ore and coal —
i.e. cost of assembly negligible. The next most favourable condition
is to have blast furnaces located on seaboard coal mines so that the
ore may be water-borne* In the -British iron and steel industry both
the above conditions are found. When the price per ton of ore is
less than half the price of coke it may be advantageous to take the
coal to the ore. Moreover, a country having neither of the essential