The chemical industry is considered as ‘knowledge intensive high technology industry’. Therefore, conventional factors like raw material availability, cheap labour and market facilities are not enough fort development of this industry. The technological advancement and attainment of know-how is a requisite for this type of industrial development.
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1. Raw materials: used for the manufacture of chemicals are bulky and weight losing. So, some ofthe plants develop within raw material source.
2. Power Supply: Abundant and regular good quality power supply is necessary for the manufacture of chemical products.
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3. Capital: Chemical industry is the capital-intensive industry.
4. Land: Market and raw material sources exert pull on the location of chemical industry. Availability of| land is also a significant factor, which sometimes influences the location.
5. Transport and Communication: Most of the raw materials used in chemical plants are bulky andI weight loosing. It is desirable to have a good transportation network.
Distribution of Chemical Industry
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The major producing countries are United States, CIS, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Belgium, Japan, India, China, Israel, Brazil, Australia, etc.
United States of America
Several reasons are responsible for the supremacy of US chemical industries. These are:
1. High degree of industrial development and stable economy.
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2. The development of science and technology.
3. Abundant raw material reserve.
4. Steady demand of the products. Distribution
The largest agglomeration of chemicai industries is visible, in the northern states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, etc.
Apart from these states, almost all other states have at least few chemicals producing units the Atlantic coastal tracts ranging from New York New Jersey. Maryland to the south-eastern state of Florida contributes more than 70 per cent of the chemical output.
CIS
i. Leading chemical producing centres are Ukraine, Volga, and Siberia. Urals, Armenia. Kazakhstan and Central Asia
ii. The industries using coke and non-ferrous materials to produce nitrogen and potash fertilisers developed near Ukraine, West Siberia and Urals. The industries producing sulphuric acid were concentrated around Ukraine. Caucasia and Moscow-Gorky area
iii. The largest concentration of heavy chemical industry, however, occurred near petroleum producing areas. This type of industry has developed near Volga, Ukraine, Caucasus, Baku and Ural regions. The larger plants are located around Chernigov, Shchokino, Sumgait, Balkovo, Nevinnamysk, etc.
Japan
i. Japan is inefficient in raw materials. More than 80 per cent of its factories are entirely dependent on imported raw materials. The only raw materials abundant in Japan in sulphur, deposited extensively by volcanic eruptions
ii. Most of the chemical plants in Japan are located within the industrial agglomerations of ‘Osaka- Kobe’, Tokyo-Yokohoma, Nagoya, Hemagi and Kyushu.
United Kingdom
i. The chemical industry in Britain is widely diffused.
ii. The leading producing centres are Lancashire, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Yorkshire, etc.
Italy: Italy is now considered as a leading producer of both light and heavy chemical products.
Germany: The major chemical industries are concentrated in Ruhr industrial agglomeration, Bavaria and Elbe area. Larger concentration occurs in Munich. Frankfurt, Strassfurt, etc
France: The industry is well-developed in regions of Lorraine, Marsai, Bordo, etc.
China: The major chemical-producing centres in China are located in its northern part. The urban centres of Nanking, Shanghai and Shantung contributes maximum of the chemical output. The other noted chemical factories are located at Manchuria, Fushun, Penki. Dairen and Anshan The largest of the Plants are located at Manchuria.
India: India is now one of the leading manufacturers of chemical products. The urban centres .of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Kanpur, Ahmedabad are leading producing centres.
Other Countries
In the present era, several other countries have developed their own chemical industry. They are:
Spain, Belgium, Poland, Canada, Australia, etc most of these countries concentrated on the production of fertilisers, caustic soda, soda ash and different petro-chemical products.
(a) Ruhr-Westaphila Region
i. Largest industrial region of Germany.
ii. Essen and Dortmund – Important for iron and steel centre.
iii. Wuppertal and Krefeld – Textiles making centre (b) The Middle Rhine Industrial Area
iv. Frankfurt – Railway engineering centre with electrical, engineering, automobile and che” industries
v. Mainz – Leather, brewing and engineering industries. Other Industries of Germany
vi. Hamburg – Major port, with important shipbuilding and marine engineering works.
vii. Munich – Manufactures beer, musical instrument, and photographic equipment.
viii. Stuttgart – Known for automobiles, optical and surgical equipment, car components and water,
ix. Hanover – Metal and chemicals industries.
x. Aachen and Saarbrucken – Iron and steel, engineering and textile industries.
xi. Leipzig – Famous for its optical instrument.
xii. Jena – Photographic equipment.
xiii. Karl Marx Stadt – One of the major textile centres of Germany.
xiv. Dresden – China clay and porcelain.
i. Liege – Iron and steel centre. .
ii. Mons – Textiles and brewery industries.
iii. Namur – Agricultural engineering.
iv Antwerp – Known for its ancient specialisation in diamond cutting.
i. Lodz – Manchester of Poland
ii. Other important industrial towns include Wroclaw, Czestochwa Bytom, Krakow, Warsaw Gdansk.
i. Rotterdam – Marine engineering, shipbuilding and oil refining are important.
ii. Eindhoven – Electrical engineering and linen textiles.
iii. Amsterdam – Centre for diamond cutting.
iv. Arnhem – Important centre for tin smelting and rayon textiles.
i. Most industrialised country of Scandinavia.
ii. Richest iron ore resources of Europe, Eskilstona – ‘The Sheffield of Sweden’, produces excellent cutlery and ornamental goods.
i. Odda and Ardal – Aluminium smelting plants are important.
i. Stavanger – Port serving the North Sea oil and gas fields and fishing industry.
iii. Mo-i-Rana – Iron and steel Industry.
Denmark: Dairying and agricultural industries are important.
iv. Copenhagen: Dairying and agricultural industries and also chemicals, textiles, fishing Vessels, beer, silverware, machinery, electrical equipment and diesel engines.
i. Watch making, engineering, chemicals and textiles.
ii. Swiss plateau has the greatest concentration of industrial plants based on cheap H.E.P. from the Alps.
iii. Zurich, Basel, Baden, St. Gallen, Jura Towns and Appenzell are important industrial towns.
i. Milan – Known as ‘ Manchester of Italy’, having textiles (silk in particular) and engineering works.
ii. Turin – Known as ‘Detroit of Italy’, having automobiles, rail coaches and aircraft industries.
iii. Genoa – Shipbuilding and repairing industries.
iv. Venice – Long established craft industries.
v. Naples – The most important town with wine making and food processing.
vi. Taranto, Bari, Naples – Iron and Steel and petrochemicals.
vii. Catania- (Sicily) – iron and steel and petrochemicals.
World’s leading industrial nations its main industrial regions may be divided into- (a) Southern New England
Boston: One of the earliest industrial centres. It is known for shipbilding.
(b) The Mid-Atlantic States
i. Most densely populated part of the United States.
ii. This region is known for Iron and steel, engineering, printing, electrical goods, we and consumer goods.
iii. Important cities are Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia.
(c) Pittsburg – Lake Erie Region
i. Pittsburgh: ‘iron and steel’ capital of the world.
ii. Akron: world’s largest synthetic rubber and the making centre.
iii. Cleveland: specialises in wearing approach.
iv. Buffalo: Have chemicals, metal goods and flour mills. The Detroit Industrial Regions
v. Detroit: Have greatest automobile manufacturing region of the USA The Lake Michigan Region
vi. Chicago (Southern shores of Lake Michigan) – Known for iron and steel plants, me grain-milling, agricultural machinery and transport equipment.
vii. Milwaukee (North on the Western shores of lake Michigan)
viii. Gary: iron.and steel production. The Southern Appalachian Region
ix. Birmingham: Cotton textiles, chemicals, metal works and machinery. Eastern Texas
x. Fort Worth: Aircraft and aerospace industries.
xi. Dallas: consumer goods industry, cotton textiles and fashion industries.
xii. Houston: oil refineries, chemical plants, synthetic rubber factories, steel milling. Other Industrial Cities of the USA
xiii. St. Louis: meat packing, flour-milling, footwear and agricultural machinery industries.
xiv. Kansas City: Similar manufactures as St. Louis and aircraft and oil refining.
xv. San Diego and Los Angeles: Oil refining, steel, aircraft engineering, food processing a making.
xvi. Seattle: Lumbering, fish canning, aluminium smelting, aircraft and electrical engineering. Canada
xvii. Main industrial region stretching from the Lake Peninsula to Montreal.
xviii. Good accessibility, cheap HEP. And the investment of American Capital has encouraged growth.
xix. Toronto: Engineering, automobiles, chemicals, textiles, saw-milling and pulping.
xx. Hamilton: Also called ‘Birmingham of Canada’, it manufacturing iron and steel, cars, Poland agricultural machinery.
xxi. Windsor: Automobiles and tyre-making industries.
xxii. Sarnia: World’s largest oil refineries.
xxiii. Kingston: Locomotive manufacture.
xxiv. Guleph: Electrical engineering units.
xxv. Montreal: It is famous for ship-building, oil refining, railway engineering, chemicals, paper and pulp.
xxvi. Quebec: Known for marine engineering and shipbuilding.
xxvii. Ottawa: Saw milling, paper, pulp making industries and also food processing.
xxviii. Winnipeg: Wheat milling, brewing, textiles, fur dressing and tanning.
xxix. Edmonton: Local extraction of oil, natural gas, potash and coal are important.
xxx. Vancouver: Centre for lumbering.
CIS
(a) The Moscow – Gorki Region: Oldest and the greatest of Soviet industrial regions.
i. Moscow: Textiles, machines, chemicals and light industries.
ii. Gorki, Tula: Have heavy engineering steel mills, railway equipments, automobiles, aircraft and food processing.
iii. Ivanovo: Manchester of CIS.
(b) The Ukraine Industrial Region
i. Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Krivoi Rog, Rostov are important industrial centres.
ii. Iron and steel, machinery and chemicals as well as smelting are important.
(c) The Urals Industrial Region
i. Magnitogorsk, Perm, Chelabinsk, Nizhnytagil. And Sverdlovsk are important industrial centres.
ii. Heavy engineering and metallurgical industries, chemicals, steel mills are important industries in the region.
(d) The Kuzbas Region – Important coal region and also has thermal and HEP plants.
i. Novosibirsk – HEP engineering units.
ii. Novokuznetsk – Iron and Steel.
iii. Barnaul – Textiles.