Location Factors for Wheat, Corn, Dairy, Meat and Wine Production

HOME BIODIVERSITY JULY 27TH, 2013 18 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and Wine
Prologue
Wheat: Prairies, Canada
Rice: China
Dairy Biz
Dairy: New-Zealand
Dairy: Europe
Dairy: Africa=non-existent
Dairy: USA
Regional specialization: ice cream/cheese/butter
US corn & livestock belt
Corn Belt of US
Meat industry: USA
Shifting locations of US Meat business
Pig rearing
Pig rearing: Near market
Pig rearing: away from Market
Poultry: India
Factor: bogus agro-land
Factor: Contract farming
Vegetables
California: veggies and fruits
Curious case of oranges
Von Thunen Agro land use model
Viticulture, Grapes, Liquor
Factor: Government policy
Viticulture India
Mock Questions
Prologue
In the previous two articles, we saw the location factors for
1. timber and fish industry

2. Natural fibers: wool, cotton, silk and jute
Now let’s take a look at wheat, corn, rice, milk, meat, vegetables and wine. Since UPSC syllabus contains separate topic of
Indian agriculture, I’m not dwelling much into Indian food crops: wheat, corn, rice or food processing here.
This article contain lot of place-names from USA. Because books mainly use American dairy-meat industry to explain the
“location factors”. To get a better grasp over the topic, keep refering to American map simultanously while reading the article.
click me for a large political map of USA
Disclaimer as usual: I haven’t bothered much to dig internet, this is mere compilation of wisdom, a few big examples from
books. It is your job to dig further as and where necessary.
Wheat: Prairies, Canada
Factor Impact
The prairies = temperate grasslands. centuries of grass rotting has produced fertile soil
high phosphorus content= good for wheat
Soil topography suitable for wheat cultivation because wheat cannot tolerate stagnant water
Flat terrain= machines can be employed @every production stage (=useful because population is
scarce=laborers hard to find, and expensive to hire, unlike Asia).
in the early days of colonization, land was abundant in the Canadian prairies
Land European settlers seized opportunity, bought large farm holdings @throwaway prices=> farms have area of
Holding several thousand acres.
Since farm is large=mechanization possible= don’t need many farm-workers.
Canada =less population density =hard to find cheap labour, but since farm holdings are large and on flat
labour
terrain=most of the work is mechanized.
Railroad connectivity via Canadian Pacific Railway

Many branch lines are constructed to connect even the remotest farm regions with the mainline = easy to send
Transport
your produce to market.
most of the wheat moves by rail through Rocky Mountains to Vancouver /Prince Rupert for export
Grain elevator storage facilities along the railway lines: here wheat is cleaned, graded, processed and stored.
Storage
storage complexes and milling operation @bulk of the bulk location, where Railways intersect major waterways
Canadian wheat board, a statutory body= sole purchaser and seller of foodgrains for export.
The board coordinates movement of wheat to major terminals.
Government
Farmers are given schedules to send their wheat to nearby railway station.
Policy
This system minimizes price fluctuations/distribution inefficiencies
+ provides quality control for exported wheat.
Rice: China
Much of the rice is grown in South of Yangtze River:
Climate mild temperature, good rainfall= can grow two crops on the same farm in a year
Soil Suitable for rice cultivation + as we saw earlier in the silk article, the waste from sericulture is used as fertilizer.
Water good rainfall + irrigation from Yangtze and numerous other rivers and streams
Labor obvious
with government help, farmers now
Technology use diesel operated special tractors to plough rice field

Mechanical rice planters to plant the rice seedlings.
high yielding seed varieties
Transport Yangtze river=inland transport, connects many important markets/cities.+good railway network.
Government policy
Let’s examine the factors why China is leading producer of Rice? (Other than soil, climate)
1. When Mao assumed control of the nation, he emphasized more on food crops rather than cash crops. (Because famine was a
problem in China)
2. Agriculture collective system was established
size
tier function
(Approx.)
3000
I. commune supervision and coordination of tiers below it
households
300 Leasing land to “team”, soil conservation, Road construction, small scale plants, reforestation and
II. brigade
households other local Administrative functions.
30
III. team Producing crop as per the ‘quota’ given to them.
households
Later more reforms were taken viz.
1. Work points/cash: farmers were given these rewards for producing more than the quota given to them.
2. “Responsibility system”: farmers leased land directly from collectives, if they produced more than “quota”, they could use/sell
the surplus on their own.
3. Loans directly made to farmers (instead of brigade/teams). Private ownership of agro-machinery allowed.
vs. India
1. China has more area under irrigation

2. China grows food crops grown on its best lands. India grows cash crops (Cotton, sugarcane, Jute) on its best lands.
Dairy Biz
Near Market area
Fresh (Liquid) milk=bulky, perishable=>dairying should be done near market. e.g. those DUDH-wallas in most Indian cities
If the cattle to be raised for milk alone, then you don’t need large area.
Hence dairy farmers can risk to buy/rent their farms on expensive land near towns. Because demand of milk products is high in
urban areas. (same reason for vegetable growing, truck farming)
Pig rearing and poultry farming requires little land, products perishable and in high demand =located near market area.
Away from Market area
New Zealand, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark: their domestic population is low, so they’ve to export surplus milk/milk product to
foreign market.
They convert raw material (fresh liquid milk) into more ‘concentrated’ form (Cheese/butter/powdered milk). It gives two benefits:
1. Product Shelf life is extended. (butter/cheese doesn’t deteriorate quickly like liquid milk)
2. New product has higher value per unit of weight=>it can withstand the greater transport cost to the faraway markets.
When milk is turned into butter, the byproduct is skimmed milk= excellent feed for pigs
Therefore the dairy farming regions are also famous for pigs, pork, and bacon.
Dairy: New Zealand
Auckland and Taranaki areas famous.
Factor Impact
cold and humid climate+ low undulating plains= luxuriant, perennial growth of nutritious grass.
Climate
possible to graze the animals throughout the year =low cost of “fodder”
Labour Dairy farming carried on for generations = skilled.
Scientific breeding of animals, vaccination, disease control

Tech.
infrastructure for refrigeration, transport of milk products
Government Government exercises strict quality control over export of milk and meat products= New Zealand’s dairy-
Policy products commend respect and good prices in international market.
Geographically, New Zealand is located far away from the market of milk products.
Liquid milk is converted into such as butter, cheese and powdered milk meaning
Transport
1. Longer shelf life, can withstand long sea journey.
2. Higher value per unit product (compare to liquid milk) can withstand transport cost.
Dairy: Europe
Alpine areas with natural grassland =good for grazing.

Switzerland Swiz. also uses imported cocoa + local milk=>export quality premium chocolate.
has MNC level dairy-choco companies like Nestle.
Denmark, Holland, Netherlands also famous for dairy products. by and large the factors are
1. ample grassland for grazing

2. traditional skill
3. scientific breeding
4. Again same “concentration” principle: milk turned into cheese, butter, chocolate etc. for sending to other countries.
Dairy: Africa: Why non-existent
Factor impact
The best milk producing cattle breed belong to the temperate regions (Holand, Netherlands etc) They don’t have
Climate
resistance to certain tropical diseases. Even if they’re exported, they’ll not survive long in African climate.
In the African grasslands, the grass = thick, rough and tall but lacks in nutrients. Therefore even with cattle-
Raw
population, high milk yield not possible
Material
In some years, African locust swarm eats all the green vegetation= no pasture /grass left for cattle.
in Africa, Those who own cattle, follow are nomadic lifestyle. e.g. Massai, lack the education/training for raising
Labour cattle scientifically.
lack of veterinary services,
Lack of transport services + many nations have ethnic conflicts with each other, many areas under rebel control=
smooth movement between countries =not possible.
Transport
While New Zealand can easily export its animal products to European/American market, and a landlocked African
country cannot. (Except via air-transport but then product prices cannot compete due to high transport cost)
Domestic demand for milk products (Because people don’t have money). so product has to “concentrated” into
Market butter/cheese and export but it can’t compete with New Zealand/Denmark in US/EU market due to the “transport”
factor.
Dairy: USA
US corn/dairy/meat industry can be summarized in this map (although not covering all states or caveats):
1. red box states=grow corn on mass scale, sell it to blue box states
2. blue box states use corn feed to fatten pigs and cattle
3. finally they’re slaughtered in Chicago
The dairy farming in North America spreads from Lawrence Valley, upstate New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania and Ohio. Covers an area of 2000 miles
Factor impact
Climate Severe winter region. Agro difficult, but cattle can be raised indoor.
due of earlier glacial depositions, this land is very stony and has steep slopes= not good for agro.
Soil
Hence they raise cattle + buy cheap corn feed from other states =most economic use of land for the farmer.
Cattle-rearing=lot of labour required but they use automated feeding, cleaning and watering apparatus.
Labour Thus labour shortage= fixed with the help of elaborated buildings, expensive machinery, and large capital
investment.
USA =rich country, living std. higher=demand of milk product = high, hence dairy industry well developed,
capital
banking finance available.
Transport Truck based refrigerated collection-distribution network, owned by farmer cooperatives.
Regional specialization: ice cream/cheese/butter

Milk=> ice cream: doesn’t lead to significant weight loss. On the other hand,
final product amt. of fresh liquid milk necessary

1 pound cheese 10 pounds of milk
1 pound butter 20 pounds of milk
Therefore, in US, as we move away from the market (highly urbanized area such as NY/LA): the dairy specialization is found in this
order: ice cream>cheese>butter. Because farther place can only compete in market if they ‘concentrate’ their produce to decrease
weight and increase value.
place distance from urban market (Los Angeles) specialization

California nearest ice cream
Minnesota farthest butter
US corn & livestock belt

It extends nearly thousand miles from Central Ohio to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and eastern Nebraska.
In the heart of US Corn Belt, most of the revenue is earned from beef and pigs. Some large-scale operation have more than one
lakh cattle at a time.
Therefore some observers label the corn belt as “feed grain and livestock region”
American farmers prefer to grow corn because of two reasons
1. corn gives high yield per acre compared to wheat

2. It is effective for fattening animals.
We already saw that location away from market:= product is ‘concentrated’ to compensate for transport cost. Same happens here.
Corn=>fed to cattle/pigs/poultry=>meat exported.
Corn Belt
factor effect
soil,
chernozem soil= good for corn. Soil-climate suitable
climate
only small labour force needed because planting+harvesting =highly mechanised

once seeds are planted, no labour needs arise other than spraying pesticides for weed control and fertilization but
that too is done with help of aero planes because farm holdings are so large.
labour
for harvesting, outside contractors with crew and machines are hired.
This has led to new type of farmers known as suitcase farmers: they live more than 30 miles away from their
farm, in large urban cities.
Most of the corn produced=used for fattening animals=> animals sent to slaughterhouses in Chicago and Omaha.
market
Railroad transport well developed.
government
Federal Government spends billions of dollars per year in subsidy to corn farmers.
policy
These farmers also grow soya bean, because
1. Soyabean =high amt. of protein=good for fattening animals

2. Soyabean = hundreds of industrial and commercial uses from plastic, cosmetic and candy
Meat industry: USA
Chicago=known for its beef industry.
Often, Animal is reared in three different regions during its lifetime
Observe the following map:
stage Where? location from market(Chicago slaughter houses)
1. breeding ranches in Wyoming, Colorado farthest
2. initial growth Nebraska, Missouri medium
Iowa or Illinois (corn belt)

3. fattening nearest
final 90 day fattening program before slaughter
So, why this peculiar distribution/pattern?

place factor impact
1. Wyoming, not good for agro because of its Ranching is the most economic use of land for the farmer. (recall the wool
Colorado soil, topography and climate article, why Australians rear sheep)
2. Nebraska, corn=cheap and used for fattening animal before slaughter.+use of genetic
part of US corn belt
Missouri engineering, veterinary science to make the animal gained weight faster
port city, urban area, railroad

3. Chicago finds market all the way to New York, Canada Europe.
infra.
Similar pattern is found in Western Europe where sheep are bred on rough pastures upland then transferred to lowland farms for
fattening before being slaughtered near cities.
Shifting locations of US Meat business

from the map, we’ve seen that in beef industry, raw material moves from West (Colorado ranches) towards East (Chicago’s
slaughterhouses)
But now, the slaughtering business is moved westwards, towards the farms in corn belt. Why?
Factor impact
1. Weight 1. When Bones, skins etc removed=weightloss upto 25%.

Loss 2. less weight=less transport cost
3. live cattle is much more difficult and bulky to transport

2. Transport 4. Today refrigerated transport facilities more developed. There is no need to transport a live animal all the way
to Chicago.
5. Nearest to cattle-farm= uniformity of the finished product=better prices (Because specific breed of cattle
3. Quality
available)
Pig rearing
Done both near market and away from market. Reasons are following:
1. Pigs can live in variety of climates from monsoon Asia to temperate regions of Northern and Southern continents.
2. Can survive on anything: kitchen and farm waste, roots, leaves and rice bran
3. Can be kept indoors or outdoors. Don’t need large grazing area.
4. They breed easily and multiply rapidly [compared to sheep/buffalos etc.]
5. They mature quickly for slaughtering.
Pig rearing: Near market
Example: Pigs reared near and inside every city of China. Why?
Raw Near city areas, pasture land is scare.But pigs can be kept indoor, don’t need large grazing area and can be fed
material anything.
Demand There is no religious restrictions on pork eating= Chinese cities have large demand.
Pig rearing: away from Market

Example: New Zealand, Denmark, corn/dairy belt of US are also leading producer of pork/bacon. Why?
Piggery is an important activity in almost all countries where dairy farming is developed because the skimmed milk is available as
pig feed.
When milk==>butter + skimmed milk.
Pigs can survive on skimmed milk.
In Corn belt of USA, on abundant fodder supplies, cereal and soya bean. Pigs are raised here and sent to slaughter houses of
Chicago.
Poultry: India
away from Chicken reared in village because eggs=cheap source of protein for poor families. Example WB, Assam,
market Odisha….Almost everywhere.
near Poultry farms exist near almost every big city: Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi etc. to meet the urban demand (+ eggs being a
market fragile product and meat being a perishable product)
let’s look @USA , they’re leading country in chicken production, yet most their poultry farming is done far away from cities/market
areas. Why?
Factor: bogus agro-land
The Poultry industry can work in remote areas better than animal farming activities because it takes less feed to produce one pound of
meat.
1 pound of ___ meat Pounds of ___ cornfeed required

chicken 2
pig 4
cattle 8-10
Poultry farmers can take advantage of cheaper, rougher and more isolated land, because soil quality =irrelevant for rearing
chicken/turkey.
Therefore large scale poultry farming done in the less fertile, less irrigated areas of Arkansas, Virginia etc.
Factor: Contract farming
USA = booming fast-food industry (KFC, McDonalds etc)= high demand for broiler chicken throughout the year= has led to
contract farming.
Major food corporates lineup the farmers and sign contracts. They provide standard equipment, feeding material to farmers (so
that final meat product is ‘uniform’ in taste and softness).
Economies of scale =lower production cost= offsets the high transportation costs in running poultry business away from urban
areas.
Hence commercial poultry is done away from the urban market areas.
Vegetables
Fresh vegetables are widely grown near major markets because
1. Product=perishable.
2. Urban Consumer want it fresh and has the purchasing power.
3. high value product= veggie/fruit farmer can risk to buy/rent the more expensive land near city areas (compared to a wheat/corn
farmer)
Exception: Apples, Oranges, Mangoes etc. they need particular climate, they can’t be grown everywhere.
California: veggies and fruits

California=leading producer fruits, veggies and nuts, viz
1. Asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach etc.

2. orange, lemon, melon, grapes, peaches
3. fig, dates, wallnuts, almond, pistachios
so, Why is California a leading producer?
Factor impact
Climate Mediterranean type = suitable for the fruits/nuts
Dams on Sacramento River and feather River

Water Contra Costa Canal for irrigation
Efficient system of user-fees for getting water in farms
Weeding, harvesting in veggi/fruit =require a sizeable labor force.

Labour Mechanization= not that easy like in Corn/cotton.
But problem solved with the help of illegal/less-educated Mexican immigrant workers.
Since product =perishable=has to be transported via truck quickly to market.

Transport California has good roads/highways=trucks cover a greater distance in the given time= area under truck farming
is higher than in India or elsewhere.
Los Angeles=Hollywood + Silicon Valley.

Lot of people in service sector=Standard of living is high= junta diet conscious=good demand for fresh
veggies/fruits.
Market
Farmers have turned into agri-business manager: marketing and distribution in corporate level efficiency.
Costal location =processed/frozen products can be exported to Singapore, Hongkong, Japan etc. where std. of
living high=demand
Curious case of oranges
Orange are grown in both California and Florida, But
state What is done to oranges?

California most of them sold fresh as ‘fruits’
Florida Most of them turned into concentrated juice.
Recall the dairy sector: area faraway from market=high transport cost=product has to be ‘concentrated’ to increase its value and shelf-
life. In case of oranges
itself has a big domestic market due to Silicon Valley and urbanized, service sector oriented economy=higher std. of
Cali
living=junta consumes more fruits.
Florida is far away from the urban posh people of NY, LA or Europe.Florida is surrounded by ‘backward’ states like
Florida Georgia and Alabama. Hence local/regional demand=not that high=> product must be concentrated (fruit to concentrated-
preserved juice) before sending to faraway market.
Fruit for thought: Analyze the situation for Himachal Apples, Nagpur Oranges and Andhra Mangoes.
Von Thunen Agro land use model

farmers near cities grow vegetables, fruits, milk
while famers faraway from cities grow foodgrains
farmers extremely faraway from cities rear sheep/goat etc.
Why ^this type of pattern/distribution? Von Thunen explained it with a theory:
Farmer like any other businessman wants to maximize profit. But his profit depends on three variables:
P=V-(E+T)
Profit P=Value of his produce (V) MINUS [production expenses (E) + transport cost(T)]
without going into all details, when you plot a graph of distance vs profit for various crops/agro-activities…the ultimate wisdom
is:
As the farmer moves away from the city, number of profitable options decreases. Since Transport cost gets higher, he has to pick an
activity with lower production cost (e.g. sheep grazing.) to make any profit.
if you apply Van Thunen on Delhi:
place Relative distance from Delhi What will they do?

Haryana, Agra nearest dairy
Punjab medium wheat
Jammu farthest sheep/goat grazing
For USA, if you consider New York as only “city” of the whole USA, then observe following map:
If you consider London as the only city of the world, then
place Relative distance from London What will they do?

Denmark nearest dairy
Canada medium wheat
Australia farthest sheep rearing
Although it doesn’t mean nobody grows vegetables or milk in Australia. At local scale they too have their vegetable, dairy
production near their big cities.
Van Thunen doesn’t apply to specialty crops such as oranges, apples- they’ll only be grown where climate/soil permits them,
irrespective of proximity from market.
Viticulture, Grapes, Liquor
Q. Why do Mediterranean countries lead in this grape/wine business?
factor impact
Climate Grapes hate cold=> not grown beyond 50 Degree North and 40 Degree south latitude.
Grapevines like plenty of sunshine
in northern hemisphere, grown on the hills facing South

topography in southern hemisphere, grown on the hills facing north
^This is done to provide maximum sunlight
grapevines do not require plenty of water. (unlike Sugar)

Water Their roots can penetrate deep for sucking water. = can grow in semi-arid regions of Mediterranean
The grapevines themselves shed the ground in summer= soil remains cool + less moisture loss.
soil Grapes like calcium. France-Italy hill have chalk/limestone=good for growth.
grapes requires personal attention

The grapes grown in one farm are not same as those from another farm.
Even slight variation in temperature, precipitation, sunshine, soil, drainage, manure, method of fermentation and
labor
storage can make all difference in the final wine.
Mediterranean countries have dense population and long history of cultivation =skilled labour available
In California, Grapevine harvested using machine but not possible in Europe because hill slopes and small farms.
Grapes= perishable.
raw Wine=non-perishable, can be stored for years, infact its vale increases with age.
material Wine=high value product=can withstand transportation cost.
Therefore, wine is made near the raw material site (grape cultivation areas.)
Mediterranean region =long established wine producing areas have reputation and given exclusive names.
Example sherry from Spain, Champagne/Cognac from France etc.
Market Because of Geographical indicator (GI) system, other areas cannot use the same name. (Even if you make same
type of liquor in India) =less competition
+ Liquor has high demand in any part of the world.
Factor: Government policy

When French occupied Algeria they started grape cultivation.
Why? Because French wanted to export their own premium wines to other countries, so for local consumption in France itself,
cheaper variety had to be imported from Algeria.
Thus, Algeria became a leading grape producing country in the region.
But When Algeria won independence, the new government did not allow wine industry anymore (because Algeria=Muslim
population, alcohol forbidden) =grape cultivation declined.
Some more ‘factors’ on liquor industry
Just passing reference given in the books:
factor
is made from barley

Beer in countries too far north = grape-cultivation not possible.
Barley=gluten content too high=can’t make good breads= better make beer. Recall the ‘concentration’ principle.
rice wine In China, Japan and many Asian countries because grape is not cultivated and rice abundantly available.
gluten content too high=can’t make good breads.

rye can grow in the adverse climate of central Europe.
Used for whiskey making. Again recall the “concentration” principle.
Viticulture India
Factor impact
Climate vineyards in Himachal, Nashik, Banglore due to favorable climate,soil
Government State governments giving tax benefits to encourage wine industry. e.g. Maharashtra give stamp and Excise duty
Policy exemption, sale tax holiday etc. to new wine units.
Other than that, books don’t give much wisdom about “location-factors” of wine industry in India.
But on a non-serious note, why are desi-liquor dens located close to slum areas?
Factor impact
Climate irrelevant
Soil irrelevant
Water freely available from nearest sewer
Raw discarded /bad quality gur (Jaggery), rotten barley etc

Material raw material =non-perishable=>industry need not be setup near raw material site.
In case of Aluminum refining, industry should be setup near a cheap electricity source.
On the same logic, this unit should be setup near jungle/city outskirts for getting free firewood for distillation
Energy process.
But in that case, finished goods has risk of getting caught while in-transit to city.
Therefore it is more logical to set industry near market (Slum), rather than @energy source.
can be done by even single man, as long as he has the jigar (guts) and the brewing-skill, otherwise hooch will
Labour
be produced =>deaths= no repeat customers.
If the unit is farther away from market (slum)=risk of getting caught during transport. Therefore, proximity to
Market
market (slum) =prime factor in deciding industrial location.
although with corrupt police, government provides indirect support to the industry but to increase the per capita
availability of desi liquor, following reforms are necessary :
Government 1. Afforestation programs outside city using MNREGA labour, to increase firewood availability.
policy 2. Rotten grain from FCI should be handed over to these entrepreneurs
3. Some scheme named after you know who, for providing skill upgradation and subsidized equipment,
implemented with the help of local NGO.
anyways, In the next article we’ll see location factors for plantation crops such as tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane and later iron-steel
industry etc.
Mock Questions
For UPSC General Studies Mains Paper I
12 marks
1. Why do European producers have supremacy in the wine industry?
2. World production of wine is concentrated in the Mediterranean shorelands. Comment
3. for any area of your choice, examine the relationship between development of wheat farming with respect to following factors
climate
relief and drainage
labor Supply
government policy
4. What factors give rise to truck farming industry near urban areas? Illustrate with examples.
5. Farmers away from urban areas usually grow cereal crops. Comment.
6. Analyze the factor responsible for underdevelopment of Dairy industry in tropical regions.
25 marks
1. In USA, certain groups of states are known as dairy belt, cotton belt and Corn Belt. Explain the factors responsible for such
regional specialization of agriculture.
2. Discuss the major geographical and economic factors influencing the location of livestock farming in different parts of the world.
3. Examine the factors responsible for large production of corn and Wheat in the North America and compare it with suitable states
of India.
Previous Posts
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Why Textile industry in Osaka, Manchester, Lancashire, Mumbai
[Geography] Location Factors: Timber, Paper Pulp, Fishing industry: why developed in
Higher latitudes of Northern Hemisphere
[EnB] Doha COP18/UNFCC: Extension of Kyoto, Green Climate Fund, AAU issue,
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[EnB] COP 11 – Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Hyderabad 2012 Outcomes,
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[EnB] Trophic Levels, Biotic Potential, Bio Magnification & IGNOU Material on
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[EnB] Gadgil report on Western Ghats: Why Controversies, Athirappilly, Gundia Projects: Explained (Part 4 of 4)
[EnB] Gadgil Panel report on Western Ghats: recommendations, Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ), WGEA (Part 3 of 4)
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18 comments to [Geography] Location Factors: Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and Print || PDF Subscribe
Wine (Need Chrome)! (free!)
khushi
Reply to this comment
Remarkable work sir
khushi
Thank u sir for this Remarkable work…..
gaurav
Hi mrunal and all cse 2014 aspirants,
UPSC have declared dates for 2014 exam.
Prelims– 24 aug 2014
Mains– 14 dec 2014
Sahil
Good new timing of exams
Yashpal
Dear Mrunal,
Could you please suggest some reference text for the purpose of GS paper? There are lots of material floating around on net and some of
the bulky books are being recommended by various forum. It would be great help if you could provide few pointers on this, we could use
them as reference or supplements.
Thank you!
Yashpal
Above request was in reference to Geography part only.
sarika jain
hi, when I can expect my cse prelims 2013 results . please mrunal let me know about it. and I don’t know how to start practicing and learning
for mains sitting at home please guide me I am homemaker
MAHENDRA PRATAP SINGH

IS IT TRUE THAT UPSC PRE WILL BE IN AUGUST 2014.
KD
RESULT UPSC PRE COMING TODAY,,,,,,
CUT OFF GENERAL 241
OBC 218
BEST OF LUCK…..
lucky
Has UPSC made u official spokesperson?.. Shut your mouth till result is out..
KD
Dear lucky….
If u r doing preparation for UPSC….try to improve ur behaviour which plays big role in ur personality and ultimate ur thought
process.I do not know which words hurt u so much that u r using words like SHUT UR MOUTH…….May be i m wrong and have no
hesitation to say sorry if u really hurt…What i wrote above heard from some friends…..BE human beings Dear…..I know u can
give me suggestion with other words also….Improve tolerance in ur nature….Thanks…nd Sorry once agains if hurt u…..
lucky
Dear KD.
lets try to be human first:
lesson1: lets not spread baseless ridiculous rumors on this great site just because you heard something.. because every body
hears something daily like cutoff>250.
lets Improve behaviour:
Lesson2: lets be sensitive to lakhs of aspirants who are waiting for result today and already gone through lots of ridiculous lies
and baseless cutoff predictions, and atleast spare them for the day of result.
lesson3: learn to shut the mouth at appropriate time and place as it can play big role in your personality and civil life.
NOM..
KD
lol
GR8……
Kartik
@ KD
result is coming today dat even i heard from some officials but cut off is 241 dat i did’t came to knw …..
Who told u abt cut-off so high ??
I guess its rumour n if not den only god help us !!
KD
@ Kartik
Mine also heard from some friends in Delhi..
i m in range of 230 to 240..
So very nervous..GOD only help me now.
Kartik
@ kD
Eeeewwww …….!!!!!
If u heard from frd’s den its fine :-)
Source is not credible n hence we ll hav benefit of doubt , so just chill n relax till evening if its coming today !!!
N yes one more thing , a universal truth FOR MOST OF D PPL if not for all
Civil services ” anishchittao ka khel hai ”
Is c.s is a game of uncertainties !!
So lets pray dat almighty n hav faith in OURSELVES !!
God bless all !!
Kartik
@ lucky
We like in democracy , we have rights to debate , discuss …. So if u dont like it n dese arguments raises ur temperature n tone den u better
keep ur mouth shut !! Wont be dat much more appropriate ??
If above statement hurts ur ego den m sorry but i didnt intend dat way , wat m trying to emphasise is we must give considerations n respect
to other ppl’s view also ….
Atleast life has taught me dis lesson !
Rest upto u , no hard feelings for u !!
@ mrunal sir
Sir plz post mains strategy now , its high time now though we all know it requires lot of time for ur quality reasesrch !!
lucky
dude..u are really funny..are u KD..coz that post was for KD and not for u..n there is a difference btw democracy and
idiotocracy..those who spread false rumors and panic among serious candidates that too at the day of result has to think twice..
HOME GEOGRAPHY OCTOBER 8TH, 2013 18 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Aluminium, Copper, Natural Gas Refining, Petroleum Refining,
Synthetic Fibers
Aluminum
Aluminum industry: Foreign Locations
Aluminum Industries: Desi Location
Hindalco/ Birla
Vedanta Aluminum
Niyamgiri hills
Copper
Copper: Foreign location
Copper Refining: Desi Locations
Acid Industry
Desi Copper Industry: Challenges
Natural gas
ONGC Hazira, Gujarat
GAIL: Pipelines
Reliance KG Basin
Fertilizer Industry: Location
Petroleum Refineries: Location
@raw material site: Disadvantages
Refineries @ port locations
Reliance Jamnagar Refinery: Location Factors
Refineries @Market Location: Advantages
Synthetic fibers
Mock Questions
Aluminum
To understand the reason behind location of aluminum refineries, first we need to understand how aluminum is produced from bauxite?
Phase: bauxite to Alumina

Aluminum is an abundant mineral in the crust of earth but for mining or commercial scale exploitation, you require significant
concentration of bauxite ore at one particular site.
Bauxite occurs frequently in the tropical areas where limestone rocks are exposed to weathering
First, Bauxite ore is crushed, washed and mixed with caustic soda to remove impurities.
Then it is dried in large furnaces to remove moisture content=> you get alumina.
During this phase, ~50% or more weight loss happens.
Hence, this process (of converting bauxite to Alumina) is done near the raw material side. Because less weight= less
transportation cost.
Phase: alumina to aluminum
Involves electrolysis.
The white powder of alumina is dissolved in a bath and electric current is passed through it using carbon electrodes. Result-
alumina is converted to aluminum.
But this stage requires massive amount of electricity
Therefore, aluminum smelting facilities are set up near sources of cheap electricity, rather than near to raw material or near to final
market.
Aluminum industry: Foreign Locations
Canada don’t have any significant quantities of bauxite ore, yet they have many aluminum processing industries in the
and country. Why?
Norway Because both of them have cheap hydroelectric power.
used to have aluminum smelters in its domestic soil but with rising cost of electricity, now they’ve shifted their
Japan
refining to Australia, Indonesia etc. by leasing, long-term supply agreements Merger-acquisition etc.
Has largest deposits of Bauxite.

Australia Queensland & Victoria: use coal based thermal powerplants.
Tasmania: use hydroelectricity
Eastern USA: Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama

Western USA: Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico states.
USA Declined because various environmental taxes & regulations had increased the cost of production.
As Dollar strengthened against Chinese, Australian currency, it became cheaper to import aluminum than produce
it using expensive electricity +taxes @USA.
Cheap electricity =deciding factor for location of Aluminum refinery.
LEADING Refiners IN THE 70s LEADING Refiners TODAY

Australia, Canada, Brazil, Middle East, Russia and
Japan, United States and Western Europe
China.
Declined because of rising cost of electricity + pollution related taxes and
Cheap electricity from coal/hydro.
laws.
Largest producer (2012 data)
Alumina China
Aluminum Australia
Still China imports a substantial amount of Aluminum from Indonesia. Why?
1. Aluminum is cheaper substitute of Copper.

2. used backing plates for flat screen TVs (a lightweight alternative to steel), tablet computers, mobile phones, laptops or as a
laminated film used in exterior packaging for batteries;
3. Aluminum in green applications such as solar paneling (used in the frame) and wind farms (in submarine cables for off-shore wind
farm projects.
Chinese industry involved manufacturing all of above, hence need large-scale supply of aluminum.
Aluminum Industries: Desi Location

Hindalco/ Birla
FACTOR Renukoot, UP Hirakud, Odisha
RAW Lohardaga-Pakhar region @Jharkhand, Odisha itself rich in bauxite reserves,

MATERIAL Korba-Bastar region @Chhattisgarh particularly Kalahandi-Koratpur region.
Hydro electricity from Rihand Dam on Rihand

Hirakud dam on Mahanadi river.
river in Sonbhadra district, UP.
ENERGY + captive coal blocks @ Talabira,
The reservoir behind this dam, known as Govind
approximately 45 km from Hirakud
Ballabh Pant Sagar
Aluminum Refining required skilled worker.

Skilled labour=mobile (compared to uneducated,
Hirakud has a township
MANPOWER unskilled labour).
nearest city Sambalpur just 15 kms away.
Besides, this plant has its own residential colony
cum mini township, hospital etc.
connected to all important industrial regions and

It is situated 6 km away from NH-6 connecting
CONNECTIVITY ports via rail-road network.
Kolkata and Mumbai
Nearest airport ~160 kms in city of Varanasi.
Vedanta Aluminum
Vedanta is an integrated producer of Aluminum in India with mines, smelters and associated power plants.
Korba (Chhattisgarh) and Jharsuguda (Odisha)
Both places have bauxite and coal deposits.
Vedanta uses that coal for generating thermal electricity in its own captive power plants. Same electricity used for refining alumina
to aluminum.
Niyamgiri hills
Located in Odisha. Considered sacred by the tribal groups such as the Dongria Kondh, Kutia Kandha etc. Vedanta Resources ltd.
wanted to extract Bauxite from here, project worth more than $1.5 billion.
The whole “Rahul Gandhi” episode.

2010 Union environment ministry rejected environment clearance to Vedanta’s project in the Niyamgiri hills citing serious
violation of forest and environment laws
Supreme Court said under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the gram sabhas of this area have the ultimate powers to take a
decision on whether the Vedanta group’s can go forward or not.
2013
FRA protects a wide range of rights of forest dwellers and STs including the customary rights to use forest land. And
gram sabha has the power to decide on protecting forests and natural heritage.
After this Vedanta verdict, Andra also facing crisis because their state government has given bauxite mining projects in Visakhapatnam
and East Godavari districts. Local tribal demanding similar ‘environmental referendum’ under FRA.
OTHER PLAYERS in Aluminum smelting/refining

BALCO Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
NALCO Koratpur, Odisha
MALCO Mettur, TN
Copper
With 20th century, copper became important for electric industry.
As the demand for copper increased, new mining-smelting technologies are developed to utilize even lower quality ores.
Location principle for copper and aluminum industries same, but smelting process is different.
In case of aluminum, we saw that process is bauxite(ore)=> alumina (weightloss)=> aluminum(need electricity).
In case of copper, the first stage=concentrating.
Stage: Concentrating ore
The copper ore is soaked in water and mixed with oils. The copper revering matter floats on the top, and is separated out for
further processing.
After this “concentrating” stage, barely 2.5% of the original matter remains. And less weight= less transportation cost.
Therefore, copper concentrating mills are set up near the raw material(mines)
During this stage, sulfur and oxygen impurities are separated from the concentrated copper ore. Thus we get “blister copper”.
Even in the state, the weight loss ratio is significant, therefore smelting is usually done near raw material.
Stage: blister to copper (refining)
So far we got copper ore => Blister copper.
Although Blister copper is 99% pure metal, but still unsuitable for manufacturing electronic wires, utensils etc. Why? Because it
contains impurities of gold, silver, lead and zinc.
Therefore, blister copper is refined via electrolysis method.
The blister copper is immersed in a bath of copper sulphate, electricity is passed and impurities are removed.
Here, the weight loss ratio is extremely small. (~1%). So, there is no economic factor to setup copper refining factories near the
raw material.
Copper: Foreign location
Location Comment
Zaire
had significant copper ore reserves and even refineries.
and
But governments nationalized those refineries= they became loss making white elephants just like our Air India.
Zambia
Utah, Montana, Arizona (UMA) states

In United States, many copper refineries were closed down due to increased competition from foreign refiners,
USA
higher cost of electricity, increased costs associated with legal requirements to cleanup sulphur dioxide emission
etc.
Copper Refining: Desi Locations
@Khetri, Jhunjnu district, Rajasthan.

Hindustan Copper
Ore: from Malanjkhand-Balaghat region of Madhya Pradesh.
@Korba, Chhattisgarh
BACLO Ore: from Amarkantak Region
Energy: Korba thermal plant
HINDALCO (Aditya Birla) @Dahej in Bharuch district of Gujarat.

Sterlite Industries. Tutikorin, TN
Acid Industry
From the Copper refining process, by products can be used for making phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid. How?
Copper smelting=>SO2 gas=>Sulphuric Acid
Same Sulphuric acid + Rock Phosphate*==>Phosphoric Acid. Further it can be used for making fertilizers.
*by the way, Rock Phosphate is usually imported. (Food for thought: why not setup Phosphoric acid plant abroad then? Ans.
Because se SO2 gas is difficult to transport. So, better important rock phosphate here!)
Hence, such acid industries are located in the vicinity of Copper refineries.
Nowadays, the copper refining companies have integrated plants to produce such acids within their premises. example
plant @Dahej in Bharuch district of Gujarat.
HINDALCO has both Copper refining +Acid production
(Aditya Birla) From Copper refining, they even extract the impurities of pure gold, silver and selenium, platinum and
palladium- which are sold separately.
Another favorable factor: Dahej port just 45 kms away. Helps exporting sulphuric acid.
Tuticorin, TN.
But in 2013, State pollution board ordered them to close down after emission of sulphur dioxide gas =
people in the area complained of suffocation, and burning sensation in the eye.
Sterlite
Matter went to SC, while Sterlite denies emissions from the plant are dangerously high. This plant produces
Industries.
more than half of India’s total refined copper.
Business GK: Vedanta=London based company. and Sterlite Industries is the subsidiary of Vedanta
resources
Desi Copper Industry: Challenges

1. Special copper alloys are still imported. Because we don’t have technology to produce them locally. E.g. Beryllium copper,.
2. Mining & smelting technology is obsolate. Causes substantial air pollution because sulphur dioxide emission.
3. Still don’t have technology for downstream copper products e.g. copper tubes for refrigeration/AC etc. majority of them still
imported.
4. Still don’t have technology for complete recovery of precious metals such as Cobalt, Nickel etc from copper concentration.
5. Producing 1 ton Copper from ore=takes almost 14000 kwh energy. But producing 1 ton copper from scrap/recycling=takes only
1700 kwh. However, scrap based copper smelter are not yet well established in India. Very few plants using scrap metal to
recycle copper (e.g.Lonavala, Hyderabad.)
6. Manpower requirement per tonne of finished copper=very high compared to developed countries.
7. There is huge gap between demand and supply. Almost 70% copper is imported.
8. There is no smelter @Malanjkhand (MP). The concentrate has to be transported to Khetri (Rajasthan). =cost of production
increases.
9. Overall, Indian copper ore is average quality, hence mining/refining is a costly because copper yield is low.
Lead and Zinc
Dig the ore=>concentrate=> refining.
it runs on the principle that certain minerals have an affinity for certain oils.
Hence the ore is mixed with water, oil and chemicals.
The mineral particles attach with oil bubbles and float on the surface.
The foam (containing mineral particles) is skimmed off.
Location:
Concentration stage: procedure involves significant weight loss=> carried out near mining site.
Refining stage: require lot of electricity=> done near large thermal plants /hydroelectric sites.
India doesn’t have sufficient ores of Lead/Zinc. So majority of our requirement met through imports.
state metal smelters location
Jharkhand lead Tundoo
AP lead Vishakhapatnam, based on imported lead concentrates
Rajasthan Zinc @Debari: ore comes from Rajpur-Dariba mines + import.@Chanderia: ore comes from Bhilwara.
Kerala Zinc @Alwaye. Based on imported zinc concentrates
Natural gas
Natural Gas compared to Petroleum:
GOOD BAD
1. Storage and distribution is difficult.

1. cheaper
2. With the help of pipelines, the gas can be transported to the consuming centers, but the construction of
2. does not
pipeline and its security and maintenance is expensive. Hence export=problematic.
require
3. once the pipeline is laid- its size/capacity cannot be increased.
extensive
4. leakage detection is difficult incase of underground pipelines.
refining
5. If market/buyers are not found, then gas is wasted by burning. (flaring).
3. burns clean
6. Therefore it is economical only to mine gas near market areas/ only if pipeline is established.
After the Second World War, United States was the first country to lay a comprehensive pipeline network for natural gas.
International Pipeline Projects
1. Iran-Pakistan-India
2. Myanmar-Bangladesh-India
3. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)
ONGC Hazira, Gujarat
INPUT Natural gas from Bombay High
They remove sulphur impurity from the (sour) natural gas, and send it to other regions via pipeline. (process
PROCESS
called “Sweetening the gas”)
the “sweet” natural gas is used in
OUTPUT 1. LPG cylinders

2. Nitrogen based fertilizers
3. Household via pipelines as cooking gas.
Labor Not the deciding factor. Because skilled labour=mobile. and Hazira has township for them.
Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdhishpur(HBJ) pipeline passes through Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, U.P., Delhi and
TRANSPORT
Haryana= all big markets are connected through pipeline.
GAIL: Pipelines
JAMNAGAR LONI LPG PIPELINE VIZAG-SECUNDERABAD PIPELINE
Reliance refinery Jamnagar

Vizag-HPC Refinery
INPUT Essar refinery Vadinar
Imports from Vishakhapatnam port
Imported LNG from Kandla port
Ajmer & Jaipur in Rajasthan,

Gurgaon in Haryana, Vijayawada
MARKET
Delhi Secunderabad, Near Hyderabad
Loni-Gaziabad (U.P)
LENGTH 1300kms 600
Reliance KG Basin
Refining done @ Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh
input gas from offshore block in Krishna-Godawari Basin

refining Onshore Gas Terminal at Gadimoga, about 30 Km south of Kakinada in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
East West Gas Pipeline (EWPL) transports gas from Kakinada, the landfall point of KG-D6 gas, to Bharuch
(Gujarat) and traverses through Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
From Bharuch, they use the pipeline network of Gujarat State Petronet to take the gas to end-consumers as well as
transport
connect to Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdhishpur(HBJ) pipeline.
Through this entire Pipeline networking, gas reaches to fertilizer plants e.g. Tata Chemicals (Mumbai) and Rashtriya
Chemicals & Fertilizers (Trombay), IFFCO’s (Phulpur), GSFC(Vadodara), Kribhco etc.
Related issue: Gas pricing controversy. click me
Fertilizer Industry: Location

Urea/ Nitrogen Based industries are located near Natural gas source. Why?
Natural Gas has Methane. (CH4)

You mix it with Oxygen, Nitrogen and heat in presence of catalysts=> the Hydrogen part combines with Nitrogen, thus you get
Ammonia (NH3). This is known as Haber process.
This Ammonia (NH3) can be used for making nitrogen based fertilizers e.g. Urea.
Therefore availability (and price) of Natural Gas, affects the location of Fertilizer industry.
Similarly Neptha (obtained from crude oil) is also used in production of nitrogen based fertilizers. Hence proximity to oil refinery
is also considered a favourable factor.
Thanks to oil and gas from Bombay High, the Gujarat-Maharahstra region got fertilizer plants at Hazira, Mumbai, Trombay,
Vadodara etc. (Nowadays they also source gas from Reliance KG basin).
Similarly, Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdhishpur(HBJ) pipeline=> fertilizer industry in Bijapur, Sawai Madhopur, Shahjahanpur etc.
FERTILIZER location
Near raw material Rock PhosphateUSA: Florida, North Carolina, Utah and Idaho.
PHOSPHATE
India: UP, MP, Rajasthan.
Near raw material Potash.Canada: in the Prairie-Saskatchewan region.

POTASH
India: we don’t have potash reserve. We rely on imports. India Potash ltd. settingup port @Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
Guano=excreta/dung of seabirds. Large deposits at Peru-Chili coasts.Problem: Ocean temperature/acidification

GUANO
affecting plankton=>fishes=>seabirds: hence Guano production declined.
Petroleum Refineries: Location

There are two stages: 1) production (drilling) 2) refining.
For Petroleum refineries, the raw material sources were less decisive factors for industrial location. Because industries were
already setup in coalfields and did not move away due to industrial inertia.
Petroleum refining does not lead significant weightloss, unlike the aluminum/copper/sugarcane/timber processing.
Virtually all the by-products can be used. Therefore, refineries can be set up
1. near the raw material or
2. near the market or
3. at an intermediate break of the bulk location (ports/coastal locations)
@raw material site: Disadvantages
1. Refinery will become useless after oil is exhausted from oil well. So whatever millions of dollars you
NOT INFINITE
had invested in setting up that refinery=wasted.
2. Oil refining close to production site represents a weightloss of 10-11 % only= not much cost saving
in transport even if located near raw material site.
WEIGHTLOSS
3. Counter argument: refined products have higher rate of evaporation, therefore it is better to set up
the refinery near the source.
4. After 1970s, many of the Middle East and African countries started nationalizing their oil operations.
NATIONALIZATION The ownership of refineries/oilwells were transferred from MNCs to government owned PSUs.
Hence nowadays, MNCs are reluctant to setup refineries in this region for the fear of nationalization.
Unrest/Instability as a location factor
Multinational companies do not feel confident to setup refineries inside the middle-east or South America because
1. During Arab-Israeli war, OPEC members stopped supplying oil to countries that had supported Israel.
2. There have been war/war-like situations due to Israel-Palestine conflicts, Iran-Iraq, Iraq-Kuwait. Such instability, destruction,
aerial strikes=not good for business.
3. In South America, there have been frequent (and violent) changes in the regimes.
Examples of Refineries @Raw Material Site
Assam: Digboi, Guwahati and Bongaiaon

Gujarat: Koyali
Refineries @ port locations
Middle-east/West Asia is a large producer of crude oil but there is little domestic demand because region is not industrially
developed.
Therefore, many petrochemical complexes are located on the coast to facilitate export. Examples
Saudi Arab Ras Tanura
Kuwait Mina-El-Ahmedi
The development of large tankers and pipelines =bulk-transportation of petroleum possible.
this provides favorable condition for locating refineries and petrochemical industries near the market and near the ports
Challenge: the latest vessels are so big in size, they cannot pass through Suez and other canals
refineries on East Coast of USA:
get crude oil from Venezuela and West Asia

USA the transport the final products via pipelines and tankers to markets of Philadelphia, Chicago and great Lakes
region
use of pipelines to transport oil first begin in Pennsylvania USA, before that, oil was transported via Railways in
wooden barrels but was far too expensive and inefficient
refinery clusters are found near port locationse.g. Rotterdam and Thames: making it easier to transport the final
EUROPE
products via pipelines, river-barges and railroads
JAPAN Since Japan depends on imported oil, the refineries are setup @ coastal industrial regions e.g Honshu island.
Reliance refinery (Jamnagar, Gujarat) near sikka port.

INDIA
other refineries near coastal areas: Trombay, Mangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Haldia
Reliance Jamnagar Refinery: Location Factors

@ village Motikhavdi, Taluka – Lalpur, District – Jamnagar, Gujarat.
FACTOR impact
Sikka all-weather Port. Proximity to the Gulf of Kutch, permits easy import from the Middle-East crude oil
RAW
sources.
MATERIAL
Reliance has setup a pipeline to directly transport crude oil from Sikka port to its Jamnagar refinery.
The refinery has a capacity of processing ~600,000 barrels of crude oil per day
TECHNOLOGY
Even makes Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
ENERGY Reliance has its own thermal power plants in this district.
Refineries need skilled workers. And skilled workers=mobile. Hence labour is not the deciding factor for
location.
LABOUR
Reliance has setup a self-contained township, for over 2,500 of the employees – with schools, hospitals,
supermarket etc.
District connected to National Highway 8

State highways connect it to industrial regions in A’bad, Vadodara, Bharuch (helps its synthetic textile
TRANSPORT
units in those districts).
Same Sikka port facilitates exports to more than 25 countries, including to the US and Europe.
Refineries @Market Location: Advantages

You can use raw material (crude oil) supply from more than one oilfield of more than one country. So even if oil well is exhausted
from country X, you can shift to country Y.
After refining, the finished petroleum products can be supplied to interior areas pipeline connection and trucks/tankers.
In Europe, manufacturing industries also consume a large portion of petroleum products therefore refineries are
EUROPE also located in major manufacturing centers, where petroleum products are demanded. e.g. Antwerp, Rotterdam
and Southampton.
USA Refineries in Chicago, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

After Second World War, Soviet government aimed for decentralized industrial development.
FORMER Because in WW2, they had suffered massive damages in bombings because industries were concentrated only at
USSR a few places near Ukraine and Moscow.
Therefore new refineries were constructed near the markets / consumption centers
Baruauni @Bihar
INDIA Mathura @UP
Panipat @Haryana
Challenges: environmental activism/laws/regulations fears of explosion, terrorism. Hence becoming difficult to setup refineries near
market location.
Synthetic fibers
CELLULOSIC FIBERS TRUE SYNTHETICS
Rayon nylon, and polyester

from natural cellulose from wood pulp they are produced chemically from coal or petroleum byproducts
Near pulp mills near petrochemical refineries
Location factor
The base material for most of the true synthetic fibers= benzene fraction of crude oil
input Benzene= liquid, evaporates quickly, hazardous to transport.
Therefore synthetic fiber factories located near/inside petrochemical industry.
Synthetic fibers =non-bulky, non-perishable =easily transported.

output
Therefore, synthetic fiber industry need not be setup near market location.
Although, with the progress in transport-cargo facilities, nowadays synthetic fiber industry is not always in close proximity with
petroleum industry. Example in USA- while Petroleum refining business is concentrated in Southern parts, you can find synthetic
fiber industry scattered throughout the country.
India
In the late 60s, Dhirubhai Ambani started Reliance for textile manufacture @ Naroda near Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
But since polyester is made from petrochemicals, so he entered in Petrochemical business. But petrochemical is derived from
Petroleum refining, so he moved into Petroleum refining as well.
Finally Jamnager refinery @Gujarat. Thus he achieved complete vertical integration in the supply chain from crude oil to synthetic
fibers (even garments via “only vimal” brand).
Now Jamnagar refinery=> intermediate raw materials to Reliance’s textile units @Dahej, Naroda, Vadodara in Gujarat.
Similarly Oil discovery in Ankaleshwar-Sanand-Kalol led to growth of Synthetic textile industry in this region of Gujarat.
Mock Questions
1. Discuss the significance of the Forest rights act with special reference to Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Issue.
2. Give an account for the petroleum refineries in India with factors responsible for their particular location
3. Examine the location and growth of fertilizer industry in India.
4. Discuss the location characteristics of Aluminum Industry in India.
5. Give a brief account of the copper smelting in India? What are the constrains faced by them.
Previous Posts
[Geography] Location Factors: Iron-Steel, Heavy Engineering, Automobiles for UPSC GS Mains Paper 1 & Detroit Bankruptcy
[Geography] Location Factors: Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cocoa for UPSC General Studies Mains Paper 1
[Geography] Location Factors: Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and Wine
[Geography] Location Factors: Cotton Textile, Wool, Silk, Jute; Why China #1 in Silk; Why Textile industry in Osaka,
Manchester, Lancashire, Mumbai
[Geography] Location Factors: Timber, Paper Pulp, Fishing industry: why developed in Higher latitudes of Northern
Hemisphere
18 comments to [Geography] Location Factors: Aluminium, Copper, Natural Gas Refining, Petroleum Print || PDF Subscribe
Refining, Synthetic Fibers (Need Chrome)! (free!)
Paul
sir, if in states with international borders instability is detrimental for industries , what would be the best way out for the development of that
area?
Rohan
The best way is to promote Agriculture & Tourism and kutir udyog.
Paul
umm..but border areas in j&k , rajasthan, kutch are not good for agriculture..and msme r not taking off in areas like west punjab..
prashant kumar
thanks a lot sir
really if u are with us no need to go any coaching class
u are supeb………
god bless you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ravi
do somebody can explain me,”what is forward market” plz help
alok
do we need to read and remember each and every chapter of india’s struggle for independence by bipin chandra……….
Krunal
Mrunal sir, please publish article about Indian culture and arts.
chandu
Very interesting article,easy to understand,Thank you.
Gautami
@ Ravi
Forward Market is an OTC market where buyer and seller enter into a contract for future delivery of an asset. you can get this definition on
internet, just remember below points
OTC market -> Over-the-counter market – a flooress market- a way of trading out of formal exchanges like NSE, BSE, NYSE.a
.brokers/dealers are scattered over different places..so it could simply be a dealers network, where they may finalize the deals over
phone/computer network/fax/telex/or any modern day technologies.
Forward contracts are Customised means terms and conditions(price, amount, date and even place)are fit as per the business and counter-
parties. (its standardised form is called future contract).
Trading instruments could be – currencies (foreign exchange forward), agriculture/ physical commodities , Interest rate ( Forward rate
agreement).
Gopesh
Nice work. This is the true model of SEVOTTAM.
sumati
dear mrunal,
can u pls upload some articles on international affairs…exam is close n i am not getting some relevant material….at least suggest me some
rerliable source..
Rajashekar
Very nice article. its realy help full for who preparing for UPSC.
Anna Hazare
Mrunal is the second most popular Gujarati in India after Modi!
Good work Sir!
Rohan
Sir,
Long time NO diplomacy , economy article ? I am bored with same type of article from last 2 months.
Thank you
Bablu
Respected Sir,
With due respect i request you to provide guidance in the preparation fo uppsc lower subordinate exam as your guidance in the preparation
of uppsc review officer exam has helped me a lot i am highly obliged as the question were of the same pattern as suggested by you please
suggest me.
CVN
Dear Mrunal,
Pls provide link for reference material or mention the name of the books(source) from which you are making notes so that it ll be more
helpful to go through first hand information and then study ur notes as synopsis.
shravan
BEWARE SOME MISS DOLLY MISLEADING STUDENTS IN ORKUT COMMUNITY THAT EXAM POSTPONED TO 8TH? BEATING
COMPETITION THAT WAY. SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY MADE FOOL BY DOLLY AUNTY
gaurav
sir the wikipedia site states that china is the largest producer of aluminium in the world. can you please clarify?
HOME BIODIVERSITY JULY 23RD, 2013 28 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Timber, Paper Pulp, Fishing industry: why developed in Higher latitudes
of Northern Hemisphere
Prologue
overview of factors
Types of industries
Timber Based industries
Factor: raw material
Factor: River
Factor: River direction
Lumbering on commercial scale: Canada
commercial lumbering: temperate vs tropics
Paper-Pulp Industry
Commercial fishing
(Europe+America) VS Asia
VS Southern Hemisphere
Norway
Japan
Mock Questions
Prologue
UPSC has included certain topics of World Geography in the new syllabus of general studies (Mains) paper. So, let’s start with one of
the less boring topic= the factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of
the world (including India)
In most geography related books (or webpages), the industrial location topic is finished around a few paragraphs, citing a few clichéd
examples of raw material, transport, market and labor. But given UPSC’s backbreaking moveTM, such content is neither exhaustive
nor sufficient for the Mains level questions. Therefore, I’m compiling some wisdom scattered in other books/sources viz.
Book chapters
Economic Geography by Truman Hartshorn 4-18
Human and Economic geography by Goh Cheng Leong 3-15
World Geography by SA Qazi 8- 16
Economic and Social geography by R.Knowles (aka Rupa made easy series) 13-15
Indian Geography by Majid Hussain 11
Old NCERT Geography class 11 2-10
ICSE Geography textbook Class 10 8-11
Total Seven articles on industrial location factors:
1. (the present article) Intro, forest, timber, paper-pulp and fishing industry
2. cotton, silk, wool, jute
3. sugar, dairy, Pigs
4. iron-steel, heavy engineering, major industrial regions of the world
5. non-ferrous, petroleum, natural gas, refineries, chemical industries, synthetic fibers
6. transport and labor
7. market, government policies
Disclaimer:
1. I claim no expertise in geography, these articles are mere compilation of some wisdom and (a few) examples given in those
books. Lot of minor places and countries have been ignored. I haven’t bothered to dig internet much for doing ‘full coverage’. It
is your job to fill up the details as and where you feel necessary. Try to dig examples from your own state- that way it helps even
during UPSC interviews or State PSC exams.
2. Certain topics need to be separately prepared for other parts of syllabus hence, I haven’t put them here. For example
a. Wheat, rice, tea, groundnut etc. in India. Because they need to be prepared for agro topic under paper 3.
b. Mica, manganese and variety of minerals because they need to be prepared for “Distribution of key natural resources across
the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent)” for paper 1.
c. Elaborate coverage not done on Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc. for India because of paper 3.
overview of factors
We’ll examine these factors in detail for each industry, but here is some food for thought:
There are three places you can setup an industry
1. near raw material site

2. near market
3. In between ^them two: depending on transport, energy and labour convenience.
Nature of Bauxite=>alumina; Copper ore=>blister copper; Sugarcane=raw sugar. Weight loss is significant, during above
raw material processes. So, where should we setup these factories?
energy Despite having no significant bauxite reserves, Canada and Norway have aluminum refineries, why?
Why is Switzerland famous for wristwatches but not bulldozers?
Why do port cities have lot of industries surrounding them?

transport
Inland water transport helped in the development of Great lakes-Pittsburg industrial area in US. Then on the same
logic, why is Africa underdeveloped despite having so many rivers?
Sierra Leone is famous for rough diamonds but not for jewelry, why?
labor
Largest assembly for iPhone is in China and not in US, why?
market
Australia is a major supplier of wool but not major supplier of finished woolen garments, why?
demand
Government Pharmaceutical industries that once had shifted from Gujarat/Maharashtra towards Hill states, are now returning back
policy to the original states, why?
Even after local coal-iron resources are depleted, the steel and heavy engineering industry doesn’t frequently shift its
Capital
location, why?
How does Canadian winter help in commercial exploitation of timber?
Physical Fishing industry more developed in Northern Hemisphere than in Southern Hemisphere, why?
geography
How can the dairy products of New Zealand compete in American / Europeans market despite additional transport
cost?
Other factors: entrepreneurship, availability of technology, location of competing firms etc. Each factor has different level of
attractiveness for individual industry.
types of industries
They use natural raw material: Hunting-gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, mining and
Primary quarrying
They make complex products using the material obtained from primary industry.
wooden pulp=> rayon

Steel=> automobiles, railway engines
aluminum, copper=> electronics
Secondary fibers=> readymade garments
Secondary Industry can be sub classified into
1. Heavy Industries= engineering, metal goods, heavy chemicals, shipbuilding, locomotives

2. Light industries= electronics, plastic, textile, cosmetic etc.
it is not a branch of manufacturing but it sells the product of primary and secondary industries via transport,
wholesale, retailing + provides services such as:
Tertiary tourism, education, entertainment, advertisements, consultancy, Administration, healthcare etc.
Note: for detailed classification of service sector industries, refer to Page 56 of NCERT Class 12: Fundamentals of
Human geography.
Anyways, let’s start:
Timber Based industries

Factor: raw material
When this wooden logs are processed in the sawmill, significant weight loss occurs. Barely 40% is used and rest discarded as
waste.
Therefore most pulp mill and saw-mills are located near the jungles to reduce the cost of transporting waste matter.
Factor: River
Even in jungles, they’re located near rivers and streams because Logs=bulky and awkward to transport. Rivers provide cheap and
convenient mode of transport. E.g. Myanmar, the teak logs are floated down the Irrawadi river upto Yangon and then exported.
The paper/pulp mills require clean water free from chemical/pollutants. This is one the reason why they were setup in forest
locations away from polluted rivers.
Factor: River direction
towards market away from market
Southern Canada, Sweden, Finland,

US West Coast, Siberia
Himalayas
Rivers flow in the opposite direction from market areas=higher transport

rivers flow in general direction of final cost.
market=keeps production, transport cost low + in Russia, rivers remain frozen in winter and create flood like problems
in springtime=makes difficult to exploit Siberian forest.
Lumbering on commercial scale: Canada
In Canada, lumbering is a large-scale organized activity because of following reasons

Raw softwood= easy to chop
material In coniferous forest, trees of same species are concentrated in one particular area = mass exploitation easier
compared to tropical areas.
During winter, the Jungle surface is covered with snow= slippery surface= easier to move logs to rivers.
Transport the forests are comparatively less dense than in tropical areas= easy to access. Areas connected by railroads
The winter season in Canada is long = agricultural activities are limited.

Farmers have plenty of leisure time and there is no work in the field during winter
During winter, they migrate to northern (coniferous) forests along with their families => Easy availability of
Labour lumberjacks.
Lumbering is highly mechanized with the help of chainsaws, bulldozers etc = low population-density doesn’t
create much problem.
These forests are close to economically developed regions, where demand for wood is higher e.g. USA for
Market newsprint paper.
Commercial lumbering: temperate vs tropics
temperate: opportunities tropical: challenges
In tropical areas some tree-species are extremely valuable, but

trees of same species concentrated in a particular
they are scattered
area=easy to exploit on commercial scale
This heterogeneous supply of timber= cost of gathering is high.
Valuable trees are scattered throughout jungle, you need some

frozen ground helps transporting logs from
land transport before logs reach the rivers. But road construction
jungle/hills up to rivers.
is difficult due to rain, dense vegetation.
In Amazon and Zaire Basin, some trees are so heavy, it is difficult

softwood = easy to float down the river streams
to float logs=high extraction cost
Settlement is sparse, economies are non-industrialized, away from

demand areas (e.g Africa).
major industrial/urban areas are near=market
(Exception) Malaysian timber= finds ready-made market in Japan
and Australia.
replantion programs, silviculture, strict government Lax regulations, slash-n-burn type agriculture, jungles are
regulation on lumbering= jungles regenerate = permanently destroyed. (+people like Veerppan given political
lumbering is continuous economic acivity. patronage)
Paper-Pulp Industry
Canada is one of the largest newsprint producer of the world.
Its Québec and Ontario provinces= largest concentration of paper-pulp industries, Why?
Raw
Forest area is large enough to supply timber on a constant basis.
material
Transport Ideal location for mill= riverside. It minimizes transportation problems.
one ton of newsprint may require 2000 kW hours of electricity

Energy
Canada has mountainous terrain + fast flowing rivers= Cheap hydroelectric Power available.
Paper and pulp mills are highly mechanized and require little manpower. (again cheap hydroelectricity helps
Labour running the machines)
they can be located in remote regions with an without experiencing labor shortage
USA has highest paper consumption in the world, provides a ready-made market for the paper pulp industry of
Market
Canada.
Britain
Raw
Its timber output is negligible but still a major paper-producer thanks to pulp-imports from Sweden and Canada..
material
Mills located @coastal areas, to process imported material (=less transport cost) Example Mill near Thames
estuary, Manchester Ship canal.
Transport
(In later articles, we’ll see that Manchester canal was developed to turn Manchester into a port for textile business
but then Manchester textile industry declined due to competition from Cheaper Asian garments.).
Norway, Sweden, Finland
Factors more or less the same:
1. cheap hydro electrical power,

2. mechanized operations to make do for lack of laborers,
3. Rivers flow towards ports=easy for transport.
South East Asia

Forests found on islands/peninsulas @no point very distance from sea, Hence can be extracted easily.
Malaysia, Philippines
hardwood much in demand by Australia and Japan
Myanmar, Thailand Best wood found inland, has to be transported through rivers towards coast.
India
near raw material Dependent on bamboo, softwood. E.g. South Gujarat, Odisha, MP
Kolkata: raw material brought from North Eastern States, cheap labor, coal, water available.
near market
Lucknow: Depend on bagasse (from sugarmills), rags, wheat bran. Sabai grass brought from Terrai region.
Commercial fishing
Why is commercial fishing developed in middle to higher latitudes of Northern hemisphere?
Plankton availability
Fishes eat plankton.
Phytoplankton require sunlight = they can develop well in continental shelves and shallow seas because of Sunlight penetration
and minerals from coastal water.
Planktons reproduce more in cooler waters
Observe the following map: yellow areas= continental shelf/ shallow areas=better for fishing.
Observe the indented coastlines in N.America and Europe.
Locate South China Sea. You can understand one of the reasons why China and neighbours keep fighting over it=rich-fish resources.
Ocean Currents
When cold and hot current meet=lot of planktons=lot of fishes.
warm cold fishermen of ____ benefit

gulf stream labrador US+ Canada (North Western Atlantic coast)
Kuroshio Oyashio Honshu, Japan
Coastline
Highly indented coastline=many sites for harbors and ports.
The cool temperate climate favors large scale commercial fishing, preservation and storage of fish.
Climate While tropical areas= hot, moist = fish cannot be stored for long.
In the medieval times, temperate forests provided following
1. Both soft and hard wood for construction of fishing boats.

2. Naval stores (Raisin, pitch, tar and turpentine). They are derived from resinous materials from coniferous
Equipment trees, were used to make wooden vessels watertight.
Today, commercial fishing vessels don’t need any of above, but steel and heavy engineering industry also
developed in surround the coastal regions (e.g. Great lakes-Pittsburg) =shipbuilding industry.
hilly terrain = less cultivable areas.

Labor Cold long winters= not good for agriculture= more people switch to fishing. Eg. Iceland, Japan, Norway.
In the mountainous regions of Asia and Europe, agricultural production is quite low =Fish important source
of protein. Example Japan and Norway.
Asia= fish + rice= main diet of many were Asian countries. (because Fish is cheaper than meat)
When Europeans started migrating to North America, most of the early urban settlements were on or near
Market the Eastern coast = ready market for selling fish products.
During weekly fast of Catholics, fish must be eaten instead of meat.
Before electricity/petroleum, whale oil was the chief source of fuel and lubricant.
in developed countries, fishes even used as animal food, fertilizers
Medical uses of cod liver oil, demand for fur products (walrus, seals) and so on.
Fish gutting = significant weight loss. Hence fish processing is either done on the vessel or near the coastal plants.
location prominent fishing area

1. Dogger bank,
Northern Europe 2. great fisher bank
3. Grand bank, George bank,

US Canada
4. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland
Commercial Fishing: (Europe+America) VS Asia

Within Northern Hemisphere, Commercial fishing is more developed in North Europe and North America, compared to Asia (Except
Japan), why?
Factor impact
climate Tropical climate= fish cannot be stored for long.
Asia has relatively smooth coast line = less natural harbors than Europe/N.America
coastline
Continental shelves are narrower than Europe, North America
Commercial fishing requires large ships- multiple varieties of fishes caught, separated, processed for packing on
the ship itself, high-tech equipment to scan fishing waters for optimal location and so on.
capital
Such vessels and technology require massive capital investment= available in Europe, America but not much in
Asia.
But in the tropical regions of Asia, multiple variety of fishes occur, but in smaller groups=not good for large scale
species
commercial exploitation.
variety
Tropical fishes=higher oil content= less desirable for eating.
Commercial Fishing: VS Southern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere= more land than Southern Hemisphere=large population = fish demand is large.
In Southern hemisphere nations such as Argentina, New Zealand and Australia, meat and dairy products are plenty =not much
demand for fishes.
Continental shelves are narrower than Europe, North America=less plankton=less fish
Let’s check two leading fishing nations:
Norway Jap an
1. Sea of Japan=shallow water=more planktons

2. North-West pacific continental shelf=more planktons
extensive continental shelf=good for plankton=more fishes
3. meeting of kuroshio (warm) and oyashio (Cold) currents= more
planktons
long, fiorded coastline with many offshore islands= good

more than 3000 islands, indented coastline
sites for fishing and villages
soil, climate not suitable for agro=people shifted to Mountainous country=less area for cultivation= people shift to
fishing fishing
They’re skilled at fishing, due to long seafaring Already good experience for whale fishing.
generation, right from the times of Vikings and Genuine pearls rare, in the early 1900s of Japanese invented
Norsemen. method to cultivate pearls artificially=shows their expertise.
Steel industry, marine engineering developed in costal areas

well established shipbuilding industry
using imported coal and iron ore
hilly terrain + fast flowing river=cheap
^provides material for sophisticated fishing vessels with
hydroelectricity=helps in canning industry.
processing and refrigeration facilities onboard.
Most settlements on or near coastal areas=diet is marine Livestock/dairy farming=not much hence fish = main source of
dependent protein.
Cold climate=fish preservation easier. exports to nearby Asian countries
India: east vs. West
In India, fishing is more developed along western coast than in Eastern coast because
1. continental shelf in Western Coast=wider=more plankton = more fishes

2. Commercial varieties like Prawns and Mackerel are mostly confined along western coast.
Other than that, these books don’t contain much wisdom on “Location factor” for Indian fisheries (just list of species found, fisherman
use outdated equipment, problem of overfishing etc.)
In the next article, we’ll see the location factors for industries based on natural fibers (Cotton, silk, wool and jute)
Mock Questions
Explain reasons for following (5 marks each)
1. Canada is a leading manufacturer of newsprint

2. Malaysia and Philippines are leading exporters of tropical hardwood
12 marks
1. Provide the distribution of paper-pulp industry for any one country and explain the locational advantages for this distribution?
2. To what extend has proximity to water transport or rail communication influenced timber exploitation? Explain with examples
from India and any one foreign country.
3. Explain the factors responsible for the thriving fish-industry in any one of the following countries
a. Japan
b. Norway
c. Canada
4. Explain the parts played by each of the following factors, in the development of Lumbering industry
a. hydro electricity
b. frozen ground
c. technological changes
25 marks
1. Commercial fishing and lumbering better developed in the higher latitudes of Northern Hemisphere compared to other parts of the
world. Comment.
2. Factors responsible for overwhelming use of hardwood for fuels vs. industrial use of softwood.
Previous Posts
[EnB] Gadgil report on Western Ghats: Why Controversies, Athirappilly, Gundia
Projects: Explained (Part 4 of 4)
[EnB] Aichi Targets for Biodiversity Protection under CBD
28 comments to [Geography] Location Factors: Timber, Paper Pulp, Fishing industry: why developed in Print || PDF Subscribe
Higher latitudes of Northern Hemisphere (Need Chrome)! (free!)
sameer
great article sir, if you can post a series for geography similar to that of world history… An all inclusive one it would be of great help….
rajrajeev
Really very good article…………
Niks
You Are simply great Sir.. Hats off to you…….Now i am not gonna prepare world industry section.. i will fully rely on you sir..
This is more than sufficient + just need to see NCERT for maps….
Pars
Thanks Mrunal Ji……Great effort on your part….
gyan
Thank you so much for such nice artile
sampad
I wud like to suggest to make a link for geography section in the archives. Thanks for ur effort
Neeraj kumar
thanks sir, for this awesome article.
one more reason for why fishing occurs along west cost of India then east cost?? most of the Indian river flow towards east cost, so in bay
of bengal water is muddy and it creates low photic zone (sun light penetration in sea water is low)= less plankton= less fish. on the contrary
in Arabian sea the situation is totally reverse from bay of bengal.
Rohan
Thank you
Abhishek
Thanks Mrunal, you have picked the right topic, hoping you will continue with topics which are a little unconventional. On a totally different
note, what is the expected date for prelims result?
Mohan
nice article mrunal bhai
Naveen Shekhar
Good article !!!!!
Aspirant786
Excellent article, thanks Mrunal!
jagannath
superb
Balamuralikrishna
I wonder, how Mrunal explain these matters without readers getting bored. Thats Mrunal style of teaching.
Rashmi
Really great….
It is not feasible for everyone to buy too many books. and even if one buys all the books…there is no time left to read all of them…hence
getting a very well explained and compiled article on each such topic is really great.
Mukul
Good compilation Sir G!
sara
yummy … and 6 more articles to come makes it even more delicious… even my geog optional teacher at delhi didnt explain with such ease
.. thanks a lot
Nitin
Thank u sir !!!!
The most essential thing i learn from ur articles is the approach one must follow for mains preparation.
Sir i am facing a serious problem related to mains preparation.Going by the paradigm shift in UPSC syllabus it is expected that
dynamic/analytical approach in the GS section which is going to be decisive.I gathered photocopies of all coaching materials but i feel all
are useless/outdated.
I am reading The Hindu for last 3 months.I study from the RSS feeds for older editions.I realize some topics are important which can b
asked.But they are not exhaustive.I request u to make a section in ur blog where the aspirants can pour in valuable information/articles/links
so that we can mutually reduce the overhead of data collection/filtering.
I also request u to release, say 25 questions per week(from GS syllabus of various subjects) so that we can gather sufficient information
regarding those for mains preparation.
Chaitanya
Sir,Is this topic include in GS-III? in food processing and related industries in INDIA -scope significance, location,upstreams and
downstream requirments,supply chain management?
RRK13
fabulous …keep it up…. our pray will also help you….
v chakradhar
very nice material , iam happy to get a site which is giving coaching @free
Suresh
Sir, history main par stratagy par article ki teevr partiksha hai
TARUN
Dear mrunal sir,
I am regular follower of your blog and personally thank you for spreading this knowledge and understanding of yours not as a teacher but as
a friend.
You are showing a path to young blood surely some of them will be IAS in coming year’s. The most amazing part of yours is spreading
knowledge free of cost in a world where coaching centers charging fees which is beyond the reach of normal man.
Thanks for your great support.
praghu
can we get these books in hindi? plz tell me mrunal.
ashish patil
thanks mrunal bhai…..u r the only beacon of light in this years confusing environment of mains……hope u gonna suggest us material for
sociologys part of GS
Mansoor Ahmad
Incredible ! Love your notes ! Keep going and stay blessed.
kishore
HI mrunal,
as my knowledge,china is the largest producer and exporter of seafood and 35% of the world seafood export is from china.i dint find china
in ur article anywhere.can u mention the details.
Anurag
PL confirm Whether continental shelf in east coast is wider or west. Its east cost which is wider that was the reason of the reason for having
more port in west coast.
HOME GEOGRAPHY JULY 28TH, 2013 36 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cocoa for UPSC General Studies Mains
Paper 1
Prologue
Plantations: Why?
Types of Plantation crops
Factor: Gestation
Factor: Price shocks
Sugar industry
Factor: Nature of Raw material
Desi-Sugar
Cuba the Sugar bowl
Sugar beet
Tea
Black vs Green
Factor: break of the bulk (London)
Tea: Darjeeling
Tea: China
Coffee
Factor: American Revolution
Brazil: Sao Paulo
Coffee: Kerala
Rubber Plantations
Processing of Natural Rubber
Factor: technology
Rubber: Malaysia
Rubber: Kerala
Factors: Why decline in S.America
Cocoa
Ghana, Cocoa Triangle
Factor: Processing
Mock Questions
Prologue
In the last three articles, we saw
1. timber and fish industry

2. Natural fibers: wool, cotton, silk and jute
3. Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and Wine
Now let’s examine location factors for a few beverage and plantation crops viz. tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar and rubber. Disclaimer as
usual: not covering everything.
Plantations: Why?
Factors responsible for development of plantations in Asia and America:
1. Suez Canal was opened in 1869= this reduce the distance between Asia and Europe
2. sail based ship were replaced with steam based ship=faster, more carrying capacity
3. Industrial revolution= demand for rubber as eraser, waterproofing material+ consumer demand for tea, coffee, tobacco.
4. imperialism:
a. cheap labour = already available in colonies
b. Capital/finance= provided by Europeans.
there is some difference in the origin of Asian vs. American plantations:

American plantations Asian plantations
usually owned by rich families Setup, Financed and controlled by commercial companies based in Europe.
was started with help of African slave labor. with help of locals + indentured laborers from India, China.
Types of Plantation crops
Three types based on relative maturation time and longevity of production
type character
lifecycle >2 years

take years to mature
1. tree crops
remain productive for long period
oil palm, coconut, cocoa, rubber, coffee
Need less maintenance than tree crops.

2. field crops
sugarcane, banana
single planting, harvested within a year

3. annuals
cotton, jute, tobacco, groundnut
Factor: Gestation
Plantation of rubber, cocoa, coffee= need large scale investment, you will not see profit for many years, until the tree matures.
Such crops are unsuitable for small scale planter because he can’t afford to keep land unproductive for more than a year.
Annual crop are better suited for smallholder, they allow greater flexibility in planting followed by a harvest the same year. Hence
plantation system has almost retreated from sub-tropics: they instead grow tobacco/cotton.
Factor: Price shocks
Even when the commodity prices fall in the world market, the plantation owner must continue to operate, he cannot is rapidly
switch to another crop.
On the other hand small scale farmers can grow an alternative crop to fetch them higher price. E.g. Many UP farmers have shifted
to other crops.
Sugar industry
Factor: Nature of Raw material
Sugar mills are located near sugar growing areas, because of two factors
sugarcane = contains sucrose

1. Perishable Once you cut the sugarcane, the sucrose content starts to decline. Hence raw material must be quickly
transported.
2. Weight- sugar accounts for only ~10% of the bulky sugarcane and therefore it is prohibitively expensive to transport
loss sugarcane over long-distance in its original form.
Sugar Mill and sugar refinery of two separate location principles
Sugar mill Sugar refinery
Input sugarcane raw Coarse brown sugar (from sugar mill)
Sugarcane is crushed between rollers=sugar juice.

Process raw sugar is refined
Sugar juice+lime=boiling and crystallization.
1. raw coarse brown sugar= need further refining

output 2. bagasse => fodder, energy, paper-pulp industry, Brown and white sugars of various grades.
3. molasses=> ethanol
Must be located near sugar-farming areas because In countries like Japan (which rely on
LocationPrinciple sugarcane being bulky-perishable. e.g. in Uttar Pradesh, imports), the sugar refineries are setup
Maharahstra, South Gujarat. @ports or near market centers.
Let’s examine the factors that led to growth Desi-videsi sugar industries
Desi-Sugar
Limiting factor=proximity to raw material. So sugar mills are located in 30-50 kms radius of sugar-cultivating areas.
State Location (list non-exhaustive)
Western Maharashtra’s river valleys

Maharahstra Sangli, Solapur, Satara
Ahmednagar, Pune, Nasik
Western UP and Terai region

Uttar Pradesh Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar
Sitapur, Gorakhpur, Sharanpur
Tamilnadu Coimbtore, Tiruchirapalli
Chitradurg, Shimoga
Karnataka
Bijaipur, Belagaum, Bellary
Andhra Hyderabad, Nizamabad
Sugar mills: Maharashtra

factor impact
For sugar, warmer climate=better yield=> Maharashtra grows thicker variety of sugarcane.
Proximity to Ocean=the difference between minimum and maximum temp. During crop-maturity months=very
climate
low=>increases sugar yield.
sugar crushing season is longer
soil Black lava soil=fertile + retains water=>good for growth.
energy Mills use bagasse as fuel (recall Bagasse cogeneration) = don’t need coal.
transport Mumbai Port = helps in export.
labour available
Sugar: Uttar Pradesh

factor impact
potash-lime in soil=helps in growth.

soil
upper gangetic plain=rich fertile.
water Ganga, Yamuna and their numerous tributaries

energy use bagasse instead of coal for energy.
transport Dense road-network, flat terrain =easy transport.
labor Seasonal and migratory labour available=cost of production low.
market large population=> high demand for gur, khandsari, sugar.
govt. sugar pricing=covered in a separate article. click me
Factor: North vs South

1. In South India: No loo, no frost+ moderating effect of ocean=ideal for sugarcane growth.
2. But the sugarcane cultivate/industry in South India is not as large as UP-Maharashtra belt, Why?
a. During British-raj, North India used to cultivate indigo as cash crop but then invention of synthetic dyes=>farmers switched
to sugarcane.
b. In South India, farmers have better cash-crop alternatives e.g. cotton, tobacco, coconut, groundnut etc. so you don’t see a
large sugarbelt unlike UP.
Ratooning technology
developed by Research insti. @Coimbatore
ratoon crop= during harvest, you don’t uproot sugarcane, leave the root intact => sugarcane grows again from that root.
Advantage: time, money saved.
challenge: sugar-yield decreases on every cycle, after 1-2 years, you need to start fresh.
Cuba the Sugar bowl
factor impact
climate Hot climate, the north east trade winds= increase sugar yield.
sugarcane Fertile calcareous soil= Crops are obtained twice a year.
Large influx of American capital after the Spanish American war helped sugar industry of Cuba.
capital WW1 destroyed the farms in Europe, = Americans had to rely more on Cuban Sugar= prices soared, Americans
invested more money in Cuban mills and bought more area under sugar cultivation.
Cuba faces the USA (the greatest sugar market in the world)
market
not very far off from the north west European countries
labor Initially started using slave labor.
Until Fidel Castro took over in 1959, the main export market was USA, but afterwards most of the sugar was
exported to USSR and other communist countries.
govt.
Castro confiscated the American owned plantation and Estates, and redistributed land among workers = smaller
policy
landholdings= economy of scale declined=>unit production cost got higher.
So, later he organized cooperative and Sugar collectives. (like we saw in earlier in Rice: China)
Now passing references
sugar is grown in Louisiana and Hawaii

USA
but industry is highly mechanized because lack of labour
Mauritius, Fiji sugarcane Grown with help of indentured labour from India.
Sugar beet
German-climate unsuitable for sugar-cultivation.
They had to rely on imports=sugar-shortage during wartime.
Therefore, Germans developed a method to extract Sugar from sugar beet, and encouraged the cultivation of sugar beet for the
strategic reasons of self reliance during war-time.
Later industry spread in Belgium and France as well.
In European countries, cool autumn retains the sugar content in root= higher yields.
Sugar juice makes up to 20% of the root= significant weightloss. Therefore, just like sugarcane, sugar beet must be processed
quickly at nearby factories
But sugarbeet Factories cannot be fed consistently and only operate during the harvest season= increases cost of running.
Tea
Factors impact
raw Tea leaves => tea involves considerable weight loss. Hence tea processing is done in the estate/plantation itself.
material further blending/repacking could be done break of the bulk location (e.g. port cities like London)
frost=injures the leaves=>tea not grown beyond Northern China / Honshu

Climate
very long winter=retards plant growth, decreases yield
Topography doesn’t like stagnant water=> has to be grown on highland or hill slopese.g. hills of Darjiling, Jalpaiguri or Nilgiri
Weeding, manure, pruning and plucking= tedious job: need skill+ patience=>cheap female labour force is
essential. (recall the same factor for sericulture development in India, China)
Since tea has to be grown in hill slopes, mechanization =not possible (like in case of wheat in Canada/corn in
Labor US)
Even while drying, rolling, fermentation, grading and packaging of tea, skilled manpower needed.
Therefore, tea plantation is done near areas with high population density.
Black vs Green
black tea green tea
leave sun dried=>steam rolled

=>fermented=>roasted.
leaves heated immediately with steam, not allowed to ferment
result=considerable weighloss hence
Result=tannin content is higher, gives a peculiar taste and ‘kick’.
processing done @the estate itself
before exporting.
People in far east and Japan like green tea more. They consume it without adding
Indians and Europeans like black tea sugar/milk (obviously because this region doesn’t a have well developed dairy
industry.)
Factor: break of the bulk (London)

Break of the bulk=place where mode of transportation changes e.g. waterway to railways.
The rise of London Tea Biz
In the era of Colonization, British controlled Indian and Sri-Lankan tea estates and had ‘sphere of influence’ in China.
Therefore, lot of tea went to London port and from London the large consignments were broken, various blends were mixed and
tea was re-exported to other European countries + USA (which was a ‘colony’ of Britain at that time) + local consumption.
The fall of London Tea Biz
In world history, we saw that Americans revolted against the tea-tax imposed by Britain= Boston Tea Party, and then American
war of independence= Thus tea export to USA declined, product became expensive, Americans shifted to Coffee drinking.
Later Both Indian and Sri-Lanka gained independence, Communist rule in China=now tea was exported directly to the recipient
country in Europe, rather than via ‘middleman’ London.
Tea: Darjeeling
Factors effect
Britain had accumulated truckload of wealth from its Asian-African colonies + industrial revolution.
By 1830s, monopoly over Chinese tea-trade was lost with the entry of other European players exercising sphere
of influence over China.
Capital
The indigo cropping in Bihar was not giving good returns.
Suez Canal opened=distance reduced.
All ^these factors led to British “FDI” going in the Indian tea-plantation activity.
Climate morning fog, low temperature=high grade leaf
Tista, Rangreej, Mahananda, Balason+ many streams.

water Gradual melting of Himalayan snow=feeds water to rivers/streams even in dry season.
+south-west monsoon provided sufficient water
soil soil has good quantity of phosphorous+potash=>gives special flavor to Darjeeling Tea.
Topography Grown in hills=no stagnant water.
Labour Large estates have residential, school, hospital facilities=>permanent labor force working for generations.
Yes, local + foreign demand.

market
Proximity to Kolkata port=good for export.
Tea: China
Mostly grown on Yangtze-Kiang and Sikiang valleys
Factors effect
Climate summer monsoon keeps the temp good for tea
Topography hills
grown and used since ancient times= people are skilled @growing tea.
Labour Famers grow tea on the nearby hills as secondary crop for additional income, otherwise primary crop is rice.
Compared to Indian Estates, Chinese tea Farms are smaller, usually less than 1 acre.
Yes local + foreign demand. Yangtze-Kiang leads to Shanghai port. And Location advantages of Shanghai port
market already discussed in Textile article.
Although most Europeans prefer Indian black tea because it is stronger than Chinese variety.
Some passing reference to other countries and factors
country factors
mountain slopes
Japan
red volcanic soil containing a lot of iron
Cheap labour, good climate, hills

Sri Lanka
British tried coffee, but a blight in 1870s wiped out coffee plantation => shifted to tea.
Indonesia Ocean breeze and cheap supply of female labour
Coffee
factor impact
Coffee needs to be protected from direct sunlight, especially when plant is young.
Temperature in Yemen / Ethiopia annual rainfall is less than 20 inches but still coffee grows well because thick sea
mist=provides moisture and protects from excessive heat.
Coffee likes abundant moisture but hates waterlogging=>hilly slopes receiving orographic rainfall are best
suited for coffee.
Topography
Hill slops facing the sea=even better, because they benefit from the mist and sea breezes=cooler. (and coffee
hates direct sunlight/heat)
Berry has to be picked by hand, sorting the ripe berries from leaves, twigs etc. also needs patience and skill.
Labor Since coffee has to be grown in hillslopes, large scale mechanization =not possible (unlike wheat in Canada or
Corn/Cotton in US)
Coffee loses flavour quickly after being roasted. Therefore, only preliminary processing done in exporting
Market
country, and roasting done in the importing country.
Factor: American Revolution

Initially the Europeans that had settled in USA, consumed tea imported from Britain.
But then King George imposed heavy tax on tea exported to USA => Boston tea party revolt + American war of independence=>
tea supply halted= Americans switched to Coffee and thus USA became major market for Brazil and Columbian coffee
cultivators.
Let’s check some important coffee growing regions and factor responsible.
Brazil: Sao Paulo

Coffee grown in the North-Eastern region of Brazil. Brazilian Coffee plantations are called “fazendas” (because in Portuguese,
Fazenda=farm)
Factor Impact
volcanic soil known as terra roxa (red soil)= rich in minerals, potash and humus
Soil
soil remains productive for many years of coffee cultivation without requiring additional fertilizers.
in Brazil tall leguminous plants are used to provide shade + enrich the soil with nitrogen fixing bacteria
Temp Brazilian current=mist=keeps temperature moderate.
moderate temp= not much shade needed + lower occurrence of diseases
Transport Special railways passing through hills and tunnels to connect plantations to port cities of Rio De Janeiro etc.
they move from one estate to another

Labor Their wages are low, but they are allowed to grow maize, vegetables, rear poultry for personal use in the
fazendas.
Market Universal demand, except where tea is the main beverage.
in 1870s, a blight disease destroyed Sri Lankan Coffee plantation, hence Brazil took the opportunity to fillup the
vaccum in world market.
Competition They cleared the virgin forest and started coffee plantations. When soil started losing fertility they’d simply
destroy more forest and move interior to make another plantation => low unit production cost because no
fertilizer used.
Coffee: Kerala
Kerala=> Western Ghats + Nilgiri Hills region = suited for both Tea+coffee.
Factor impact
red soil=best suited

Soil
Hill areas of Kozhikode, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kottayam=no stagnant water
Coffee grown on Northern and Eastern slopes of the ghat (Because coffee hates direct sunlight)
Temp
Moderating effect of Lakshadweep sea= temp stays ~25 throughout the year.
Transport Kochi port

Market Kochi port to (mostly) Italy+local demand in South India
Rubber Plantations
factor impact
Natural Rubber is obtained from latex of rubber trees.

Raw Latex=white milky liquid, collected by making cut on rubber tree bark.
Material Latex=contains 30-40% rubber, rest material lost during processing => preliminary processing is done near
Raw material site.
climate hates cold + likes abundant moisture=both condition met near tropics
Tapper need to make cuts deep enough to chop the latex tube but without damaging cambium=need skill.
Latex is collected by affixing artificial cups on the tree bark.
labour
but latex will coagulate in cup, if kept for long=> tapper needs to collect latex regularly
Hence rubber collection=need lot of laborers.
Processing of Natural Rubber

Latex from tree=>diluted with water & strained to remove dirt.
Diluted latex + acid =rubber coagulates and forms slabs on top.
these slabs removed ,pressed in mill to squeeze out liquid
slabs=dried=become thin sheets= easy to pack & export
Factor: technology
Rise of Natural rubber demand
1830s: Charles Goodyear of the USA invented vulcanization process= increased the industrial
applications of Natural rubber.
1890s: automobile industry= pneumatic cars=needed rubber.
Fall of Natural rubber demand
In the 1920s, USA began to develop synthetic rubber. Although natural rubber was still preferred
because new technology was costly.
But WW2= Japan occupied Southeast Asia=natural rubber export to USA was cutoff.
In response, US government developed a huge synthetic rubber industry in a very short time and after WW2, sold it to private
companies.
Rubber: Malaysia
Factor impact
Climate hot moist equatorial climate=suitable for Rubber trees.
Labour immigrants from China + Tamils from India
Rubber research Institute in Kuala Lumpur

Technology new selective breeding methods
new tapping methods to cut the labour cost
Replanting:
A new rubber tree yields 3-4 times more latex than an old tree.
Hence replanting of rubber tree=increases the yield.
Malaysian government, provided active support for replanting.
Government
Policy Quality control
Government regulates the export quality by “standard Malaysian rubber (SMR)” system e.g. SMR5 grade
rubbber, SMR50 grade rubber.
Thus, Malaysian rubber comments respect and good prices in international market for its uniform quality.
Rubber: Kerala
In Kerala, Rubber grown on hill slops of W.Ghats in Travancore, Kozikode, Malabar, Kottayam distrcits.
factor impact
Rubber hates cold + likes abundant moisture

climate Kerala being coastal state + hills=both condition met.
tapping done in morning to avoid afternoon rains.
soil laterite soil=good growth.

labour Available and skiled. One tapper can go through almost 250-300 trees per day.
Kerala= lot of coconuts=their shell is used as “cup” to collect latex. Other than that, not much wisdom is given in books regarding
‘location factor’.
Factors: Why decline in S.America
Rubber is originally from Brazil, their government had banned export of rubber plant to maintain monopoly However, an Englishman
smuggled the seeds out of Brazil, spread Rubber plantation in Sri Lanka and other S.E.Asian countries. But today S.American
countries don’t figure in top Rubber producers, why?
1. South American Countries= prolonged struggles for independence, coups, countercoups =instability=no attention to
infra/research necessary for Rubber.
2. Their governments did not understand the importance of replanting like Malaysians =yields kept decline after every year.
3. Rubber estates confiscated with change of regimes, land redistributed among peasants= small scale rubber production =cannot
maintain ‘uniform quality’ for exported rubber + no more ‘economies of scale’= unit cost of production increased.
Cocoa
Originally from Central and South America, associated with Aztec civilization.
Spanish brought it to Europe, but only after Europeans learned the art of chocolate making, cocoa demand increased.
Then Europeans introduced cocoa in West African countries.
Ghana, Cocoa Triangle
In Ghana, the triangular area between Takoradi, Kumasi and Accra towns has max. Concentration of cocoa cultivation= famous as
“Cocoa Triangle”.
soil, climate cocoa tree need warm wet climate, forest protection.Ghana being in the equatorial belt. So all conditions met.
need lot of cheap laborers because
1. cocoa fruits have to be manually cut with a machete.

labour 2. Since cocoa trees grown in jungle areas= have to manually carry it near the mainroad/railway line.
Ghana has abundant supply of cocoa-labourers known as Tumbadors.
transport/market Port of Takoradi and Tema.Mainly grown for export to US and dairy countries of Europe (Swiz, Den, Neth).
Factor: Processing
(just for information)
cocoa fruitpod=> pulp removed= you get 20-30 seeds from each pod
Seeds covered in banana leaves and allowed to ferment for a week=> sun dried.
Tropical damp climate = cocoa beans quickly lose flavor after roasting. Therefore, further processing done in the importing
country (e.g. USA)
they roast the bean=>grind=> you get two products
1. Powder: mix with sugar, milk & make chocolate.
2. Cocoa-butter: used in cosmetics, cream-lipstick, pharmaceuticals etc.
So why does Ghana export cocoa-beans, why not finished products?
1. Unlike USA, Ghana doesn’t have abundant supply of other ingredients of chocolate/confectionary items viz. milk and sugar. Even
if Ghana imported milk/sugar from elsewhere to make chocolates, the final market is in US/Europe=> transport cost makes the
industry @disadvantage.
2. Ghana doesn’t have drug/cosmetic industry that can efficiently utilize by-product: cocoa-butter. (because drug/cosmetic industry
require ‘skilled’ labour)
Ecuador used to be a major cocoa exporter but trees were plagued by fungal disease=> farmer switched to banana, coffee and sugar
cane.
Bananas
Just passing reference
fruit ripens very quickly.

without refrigerated boats, impossible to ship product from tropics to US/EU market.
banana producing regions nearest to major markets have trade advantage. e.g. Caribbean islands
In the next article, we’ll see the location factors for Iron-steel-heavy industries.
Mock Questions
5 marks/50 words
Explain the reason(s) for each of the following:
1. Sugarcane is more economical to produce cane sugar beet.

2. more cane sugar enters the world trader then beet sugar
3. The invention of chocolate making was the greatest single factor in rapid expansion of cocoa cultivation
4. chocolate making factories are located in importing countries rather than in cocoa-producing countries
12 marks /120 words
1. Explain the geographical factors responsible for large-scale commercial cultivation of any one of the following pairs:
a. Tea and Coffee
b. sugarcane and sugar beet
2. consider the basis of regional specialization in tropical beverages with special reference to any one major beverage crop.
3. for any selected area, examine the relationship between development of coffee or tea because of following factors
a. climate
b. relief and drainage
c. labour Supply
d. government policy
25 marks/ 250 words
1. Tropical and Sub-tropical regions are the chief suppliers of beverages to the temperate markets. Comment
2. Plantation agriculture is essentially limited to the tropical and subtropical areas. What are the factors responsible for this particular
concentration?
3. Analyze the factor responsible for underdevelopment of Plantation economy near tropical regions.
4. Examine the factors influencing commercial production of rubber in Malaysia or Tobacco in USA.
Previous Posts
[Geography] Location Factors: Iron-Steel, Heavy Engineering, Automobiles for UPSC
GS Mains Paper 1 & Detroit Bankruptcy
[Geography] Location Factors: Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and
Wine
36 comments to [Geography] Location Factors: Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cocoa for UPSC Print || PDF Subscribe
General Studies Mains Paper 1 (Need Chrome)! (free!)
sankalpa mohanty
nice article
SANUJA
nice work
mukesh
very useful sir.please suggest any authentic books for this topic.
Rahul
wonderful stuff :)
Nitin
Nice article Mrunal…Thank You for your efforts..
surbhi
mrunal sir , plz clarify my one doubt as its really pulling back my prep. Can they change the age limit criterion my asking that candidate
should be 21 by 1 jan instead of 1 aug(now its 1 Aug)….they have done this in this years IES notification … if this happens i would not be
able to sit next year …
ANGAD ANAND
Hats off to you sir……………!!
Shreya
thanks alot sir, hats off to you!!!!
rai
tussi sach mein great ho…. itna kuch de dete ho aap.. uske baad bhi kehte ki u have to look into reference book for more details… is se
jyada aur decoded kahan milega…
thnq sirji
prateek
Mrunal sir
Pllz give me the list of all govt websites helpful in ias preparation so that I can bookmark those….I only know about pib site..
Nd how to study those sites contents ….I m unable. To find aany information so sought a help frm u sir…
devender
i owe u sir :)
Aiman Reyaz
In JPSC after taking out the print out I have to send it to ‘Jharkhand Public Service Commission Circular Road
Ranchi – 834001′. What all things do I have to submit? Please anybody help
sandeep
print out and bank payement slip (JPsc copy)
sandeep
any idea about exam date or month?
Rahul
Hi.. is there choice of selection of test venue ?
Aiman Reyaz
thanks a ton. No date has yet been released,only after a few days when all the form submissions process will be done then only
they will give you date and venue.
Magi reddy
Nice article sir
arvind
dear mrunal,thanks for all your effort to providing all these materials
rajkumar
Sir Can u plz post the book list for all four gs papers. (or)any one in dis forum
Akshatha Sudheendran
Really good one
oastm
sir,
Please, provide ur able guidance in philosophy sir.
Waiting 4 that,since a long time. Sir.
PLEASE HELP
sandeep
sir ji plz help for JPpsc exam also……….plzzzzzzzz
deepak
can anyone tell about whether the exam for jpsc woul dbe held in centres across india or just jharkhand and a person preparing for upsc civil
services should fill in for this exam?
ankur
can you please recommend one single book for each subject of mains so that we do not have to refer to other books.
Mrunal
UPSC Mains is not like that, where one book suffices for one subject.
tarunendu singh
thank you very much, sir
Aiman Reyaz
One more doubt, please help me. FIrst I went to the cyber cafe and there after submitting the form, a print out was handed out to me, along
with the challan stepled on it. That paper has my registration number etc. After that what do I do?
Anand
good article mrunal
Rekha
Sir,why is it not possible to have the pdf format…
on clickin the right bottom link print/pdf….only gettin print is possible but nt able to get it in pdf…
please do check out….
Thank you…
mr einstein
sir, is it okay to refer ” certificate physical and human geography” by goh cheng leong for world geography..???
praveen
Thank you sir
dr d prajapati
mrunal —> epicgenius(tm)
:)
amit
result out…so am i…really dissapointed..expected to be in….GAME OVER!!!!
ravi kr.
wat was ur expected marks?
anjani
Tremendous job……thanx
kamlesh
sir, i had given spipa’s entrance for upsc but not cleared in it,but i have cleared spipa’s cgrs exam.s’d i join it?will it beneficial for me in upsc
preparation?
HOME GEOGRAPHY AUGUST 1ST, 2013 85 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Iron-Steel, Heavy Engineering, Automobiles for UPSC GS Mains Paper
1 & Detroit Bankruptcy
Prologue
Iron-Steel industry
The three locations
#1: Near Forest
#2: Near coal fields
#3: Near coastal areas
Factor: Empty Wagons
Ural-Kuznetsk combine
Bokaro Rourkela Combine
The curious case of Cleveland
Factor: Coking coal Shortage
Factor: Technology
Industrial Inertia
Why industrial inertia?
Inertia due to Government Policy
Factor: strategic reasons
Factor: Developmental policies
Steel Based Industrial Regions
USA, Great Lakes-Pittsburg region
Canada: St Lawrence Valley
Germany, Ruhr Valley
Britain: Birmingham, Midlands
Sweden, Central region
CIS: Ural region
China: Steel industry
China: Backyard Furnaces
Integrated vs Mini steel plants

Desi Steel Plants
TISCO, Jamshedpur
Bokaro
Durgapur
Burnpur
Rourkela
Bhilai
Steel Plant: South India
Vishveshwarya, Karnataka
Salem, TN
Vishakhapatnam, AP
Secondary industries
Heavy engineering industry
Shipbuilding industry
Japanese Shipbuilding industry
German Shipbuilding
Automobile industry
Detroit: Car Capital of World
Detroit Bankruptcy
Toyota-Nagoya region, Japan
Sanand, Ahmedabad: the Nano Factory
Machine tools
Light engineering industry
Mock Questions
Prologue
Separate Archive page for Geography created: Mrunal.org/geography (Just like I’ve for /economy, /diplomacy, /snt, /enb, /aptitude,
/history)
In the last four articles, we saw the industrial location factors for
1. Timber And Fish Industry

2. Natural Fibers: Wool, Cotton, Silk And Jute
3. Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable And Wine
4. Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Rubber And Cocoa
Now moving to Iron-Steel, heavy engineering and automobile industry, with disclaimer as usual: Disclaimer as usual: not covering
everything, fill up the details as and where you find necessary.
Iron-Steel industry
Iron ore + coke + limestone ==heat==> pig iron.
pig iron=more processing=>cast-iron, wrought iron, steel and variety of alloys
Thus, Essential inputs are
1. iron ore, coking coal and limestone

2. water for cooling
3. energy for heating
Steel industry also requires dolomite, manganese etc. but in small quantities=> their presence is not the main deciding factor for the
location.
The three locations

1. Near Forest
2. Near Coalmines
3. Near Coastal Areas
#1: Near Forest
Until the end of medieval period, iron production was done on small scale.
Energy was immobile (No wires to move electricity, No trains to move coal).
To produce five tons of iron, you had to chop down one acre of forest to get sufficient charcoal.
Therefore, wood supply=primary factor for deciding location. And smelters were usually setup near forest areas
Even in Modern times, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (Karnataka) was setup near jungle to get wood-charcoal. (Later switched
to hydro-electricity from Sharawati river)
#2: Near coal fields
During the Industrial Revolution, iron and steel industry were setup near coalmines, due to following reasons:
1. The coalfield region had a tradition of iron working based on charcoal as a result coalfield areas already had the labour and
technology.
2. In Britain, iron ore was found embedded with coal seams= same area provided both iron ore + coal
3. During that era, to process 1 tons of iron ore, you needed 8-12 tons of coal. Railway engines were also inefficient. So, weight-
wise, it was cheaper to transport iron ore to coalfields rather than transporting coal to iron ore site.
Examples of Iron-industry near coalmines:
Germany Ruhr Valley, Saxony region

Britain Lancashire, York shire, South Wales
United States Appalachian-Pennsylvania-great Lakes
Australia New South Wales region
China Wuhan, Anshan, Chongqing

by the way,
Why do we need “Coking coal”?
Because Iron ore=has iron oxide. But We’re only interested in iron. So, we’ve to get rid of the “oxide” part.
Then how can we remove the “oxide” part? Ans. Make him marry with carbon and form “Carbon dioxide”.
But where will you get the carbon? Ans. Coking coal. Because Coking coal has high concentration of carbon, compared to cheap
varieties of coal like Lignite. Therefore you’ve to mix the coking coal with iron ore.
Iron Ore (Iron Oxide) + Coking Coal (source of Carbon) + Limestone (reducing agent)=heat*=> Iron + CO2 + slag.
*for heating you can use other variety of coal / even electricity.
#3: Near coastal areas

By early 20th century the coal and iron ore mines in US-Europe started getting depleted. So, they started importing iron ore from
other countries.
As a result the iron space and steel industry started moving toward coastal sites to reduce cost of transporting ores from port to
factory via railways.
Iron steel industry is developed @coastal areas/port location because they rely on imported coal and iron-ore. E.g. steel
J apan
industry in Osaka-Kobe
India Steel plants @Vishakhapatnam, Ratnagiri, Mangalore
Has iron ore but not enough coalTherefore steel plants located near coastal area to get imported coal @minimum
Malaysia
transport cost.
USA In the coastal cities of Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago (using imported ores from Canada)
Factor: Empty Wagons

Ural-Kuznetsk combine
Ural=rich iron ore deposit
Kuznetsk Basin in Western Siberia = rich coal deposits- sent to Ural region by Railways.
The returning wagons after emptying coal, bring iron ore from Ural region.
Result=> iron-steel industry developed @both places.
Bokaro Rourkela Combine
Just like Ural-Kuznetsk, In India, Bokaro and Roukela steel plants:
Trains bring iron ore from Rourkela => Bokaro
and return with Coal from Bokaro =>Rourkela
This optimizes the use of transportation (because wagons are never empty), and helped in growth of iron-steel industry @both
places.
The curious case of Cleveland
Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania State) =steel industry was started using local iron ore and coal.
But Local iron ore depleted so they started importing iron ore from Lake Superior region
Problem: ships would bring iron ore but on their return journey, they’d be empty=> uneconomic use of transport.
So, they started transporting Pittsburg coal to Lake Superior region in those returning ships=>steel industry developed in the lake
region as well.
But Since Pittsburgh itself is not a coastal city, so the coal/iron had to be transported to a port (Cleveland) first using railways.
Thus, Cleveland (Ohio State) didn’t have iron ore or coal, yet got access to both => iron-steel industry developed in Cleveland.
Same reason for Duluth in Minnesota.
Factor: Coking coal Shortage
Sweden has high quality iron ore, yet it specializes in non-ferrous metallurgy and light engineering, (rather than iron-steel industry), why?
Because Sweden lacks cocking coal.

Sweden exports its own iron ore to Ruhr (Germany) and in return imports pig iron from Ruhr.
Then Sweden converts imported German Pig iron into steel, using electrical furnaces. (Advantage: cheap hydroelectric power,
because Sweden = hills + fast flowing rivers).
but since imported pig iron=costlier (than if they had made it locally)=> the steel thus manufactured, is used for making high value
items e.g. Volvo Cars, Bofors Guns etc.
Factor: Technology
New technologies for steel production reduced the “pull” factor of coalmines in deciding location. For example:
Open hearth system even scrap metal can be used to make steelreduced fuel consumptionEven natural gas can be used.
Oxygen converter process Further reduced coal/energy requirement.
Combined with the invention of electric smelters, technology helped in development of Mini-steel plants near industrial cities (And away
from iron-coal reserves).
Industrial Inertia
Today, coal is not the only source of energy. We’ve natural gas, hydel electricity even nuclear power.
+ Thanks to new technologies in steel production, you don’t need massive amt. of coking coal.
But still traditional industrial areas are located in and around the coalfields- sometimes even after the coal mines have exhausted,
these industries are not shifting to a different location. Example Lancashire in UK; Ruhr in Germany; Pittsburg in USA.
When industries don’t move away from an area, despite the locational disadvantage= this phenomena is called industrial inertia.
Why industrial inertia?
Factor impact
As time progressed, area near coal fields developed into industrial cities=There is already a large pool of skilled and
Labour experienced workers, support services. New area may not have the same labour supply (atleast for the first few years,
until people permanently migrate.)
The railroad, transport and communication infrastructure = well-developed in the old area. Therefore, even if local raw
Transport
material supply is exhausted, they can be imported from other areas.
1. It takes a lot of time and money to build a factory and equip it with necessary machines. This discourages the
entrepreneur from shifting to a new location, especially for steel industry, heavy engineering works, petrochemical
refinaries.
Capital
2. It is usually cheaper to modernize or expand an existing location rather than move to a new site. For example, as
cotton industry of Lakeshire declined, they converted textile mills into light engineering goods factories, rather
than moving to a different location.
Iron and steel industries provide raw material to many secondary manufacturing industries such as automobile,
heavy engineering etc.
If the primary industries moved to new location but the corresponding Customers (automobile/heavy engineering
Market
industries) don’t change location, then it will affect profit levels.
This is like “pahele Aap, Pahele Aap” (you go first, no no you go first..) but nobody moves from old area for
the fear of losing profit=>industrial inertia.
Inertia due to Government Policy
The industrialists in old area usually have deep pockets and political connections so they lobby to government for favorable
protectionist policies +large labour population in old area=vote bank.
For example, Pittsburg is not a coastal city and nearby coal-iron ore reserves are getting depleted=> it was becoming more
expensive to produce steel using imported iron-ore.
But then Pittsburg industrialists lobbied, and US government made steel-pricing policies like “Multiple Basing system”, “Pittsburg
plus” etc. (in the early 1900s).
The impact of such policies => even if you can make cheaper steel in some other place of US (e.g. Southern Coastal areas), you
still need to sell it @prices equivalent of Pittsburg steel industry. This demotivates entrepreneurs from setting steel-factories
elsewhere, because they can’t sell their product cheaper than Pittsburg, to attract more customers.
India
In July 2013, POSCO (Korean steel giant), pulled out from the steel-mill project in Karnataka worth almost $6 billion FDI, due to
bureaucratic red tapes in environmental clearances and land acquisition. We can only speculate the vested interests and powerplay
going on behind the curtains involing bureaucrats, politicians and mining mafias.
Factor: strategic reasons
USA
After WW2 and from the lessons of Aerial bombings destruction in Britain, US government decided that it was not wise to let entire
steel-industry concentrated in the East (Great Lakes-Pittsburg region). Therefore, some plants were setup in the west (California). They
get coal from Utah and Iron Ore from Eagle Mountains.
USSR
Before Second World War, Ukraine-Donbas region was famous for iron steel and heavy industry.
But these region suffered great destruction during Second World War. (as the Enemy Germans came from the West.)
Due to this bad experience, the Soviet government adopted a policy to disperse Soviet industries on the Eastern side, towards the
Pacific coast.
Factor: Developmental policies
Steel industry was setup specifically @Bhilai to reduce the regional backwardness.
India Location of Salem plant in TN was due to political considerations. (But what political considerations?=> books are
silent about that!)
“Backyard steel furnaces” were setup in every commune under the “great leap forward” policy of Mao. Although it
China
was an #Epicfail, we’ll see after a few paragraphs.
Steel Based Industrial Regions

Since most of the coalfields are located in the middle-latitudes=> iron-steel industry developed here.
Since steel is the raw material for many secondary industries (heavy/light engineering, machine tools, automobiles etc.). =>
Important industrial regions of the World usually found @middle latitudes.
On the other hand, tropical belt doesn’t have any significant coalmines => hardly any industries belts.
Africa doesn’t have coal or iron ore (Except some parts of S.Africa)=> hardly any industrial development.
anyways, let’s check out a few Videsi steel based industrial regions (list not exhaustive)
USA, Great Lakes-Pittsburg region
Factor impact
Good-quality Coke from Pennsylvania

iron ore from the mines Lake Superior region
Raw Material
Limestone from Lake Huron, Appalachian Mountains
cooling water =from local rivers and lakes
Energy Coal locally available and hydroelectric power from Niagara falls (Cleveland)
water4cooling lake Erie etc.
Transport St Lawrence seaway facilitates transporting raw material and finished products
Labour Large population with diversified skills, due to years of “brain gain”
The region has diversified industrial activities, one feeding raw material to other.for example
1. Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Cleveland= iron, steel and machineries

market4steel 2. Pontiac and Flint = car spare parts
3. Detroit= automobile
4. Chicago=railways (+ beef industry as we saw in previous article)
Canada: St Lawrence Valley
iron ore from steep rock, Québec Ontario

Raw Material coal from the Appalachian region
softwood from the coniferous forests
Energy Hydro electricity from Québec
1. cheap water transport to great Lakes and St Lawrence River

Transport
2. Canadian pacific railway
market4steel Machine building for paper-pulp and lumber industry + shipbuilding
Germany, Ruhr Valley
Saxony coalfield
Raw Material
iron ore from Bavaria, France, Spain and Sweden
water4cooling Ruhr river
Transport Rhine river=inland water transport + access to sea
market4steel Dusseldorf=automobile hub, Volkswagen, Mercedes etc.Ship building industry in Hamburg
Britain: Birmingham, Midlands

Raw Staffordshire, Warwickshire coal field.Although, nowadays iron smelting industry moving towards coastal locations
material for imported iron ore.
Transport Central location=>Dense network of railroads.
1. Automobile: Coventry= HQ of British Leyland company. Cars, coaches and trucks.
market4steel 2. Light engineering: region makes anything from a pin to a battleship, but specializes in smaller metal goods
manufacture: nails, locks, keys, brassware and jewelry. Staffordshire coal field has long supported this thriving
metallurgical industry
Sweden, Central region

Raw Sweden has one of the richest iron ore resources of Europe. Although they mostly rely on German pig iron as we
Material saw earlier, due to lack of coking coal.
Mountainous terrain + fast flowing river= abundant hydroelectric power (HP).Cheap HP=electric furnaces @steel
Energy
plants, and electro-chemical industries.
Goteborg, the premier port, shipbuilding centre

Transport Stockholm’s connected to Gotebore via Gota Canal = easy transport and export of engineering products.
Other industrial towns well connected by railways, roads and inland waterways.
Market4steel Volvo cars, bofors guns, Electrolux refrigerators etc.
CIS: Ural region
Ural=rich iron ore deposit

Kuznetsk basin in Western Siberia = rich coal deposits- sent to Ural region by Railways.
Raw
The returning wagons after emptying coal, bring iron ore from Ural region. Thus iron-steel industry developed
material
@both places.
This is known as Ural-Kuznetsk combine.
Energy Volga River= Kuybyshev dam= hydroelectric power

Transport trans-Siberian Railway
Market4steel Agricultural machinery, because Agriculture developed in Central Volga region.
China: Steel industry

In the late 19th century, in Britain, the coal production and urban industrial growth occurred parallel. Same story repeating in China.
During Mao’s era,
The railways was in nascent stage and lacked the capacity to move massive quantities of coal to industrial areas.
Various regions of China did not have interconnected electricity grid.
Therefore, many industrial regions were setup in North, near the coal mines.
steel industry was setup by Japanese colonialists (after Sino-China war, Japan had occupied this
1. Manchuria region)
Coal from Fushan.
2. Northern Around Shantung and Beijing.
China Coal from Shantung and Shensi.
Runs along with the Yangtze river, Around Chongqing, Wuhan etc.
Coal from Chongqing + hydro electricity from Yangtze river.
3. Yangtze Valley
Iron ore deposits on South of Yangtze River.
Yangtze river itself provides cheap inland transport.
China: Backyard Furnaces

At the end of 1950s, Chairman Mao had started a campaign called “Great Leap forward” with the aim to transform agrarian
Chinese economy to industrialized economy (similar to Russia).
One of the tool under “great leap forward”=backyard furnaces.
Mao had ordered each commune, to setup small furnace and produce steel using local wood-charcoal and metal scrap. But this
communist-experiment was an epic fail. Because:
Peasants did not have the skills for metallurgy, work was done in haste, sometimes villagers would just melt their kitchen utensils
and product an unusable metal lump meet ridiculously high steel production ‘targets’ given to each commune.
Although Mao wanted to “double” the National steel production, But result was:
1. Steel produced by such backyard furnaces was very weak and non-uniform in quality. If you made any machinery or building
with this substandard steel, it would breakdown in a few years.
2. Farm laborers were shifted to collect scrap-metal and cut jungles for charcoal=>agro productivity declined and led to famines in
later years.
3. Forests were cut down to make charcoal => environment problems, soil erosion etc.
before going into Desi steel industry, let’s understand the difference between
Integrated vs Mini steel plan ts

Integrated steel plant Mini steel plant
handles everything in one complex –
from processing raw material,

making the Coking coal, Runs on electric furnaces.
blast furnaces, production pig input=scrap metal, sponge iron
iron, Located near industrial towns for recycling the waste metal. e.g. in Maharashtra
steel & other alloys,
even upto final rolling and
shaping of ingots and rods.
takes years to construct an integrated

Low gestation period.
steel plant
in India, they’re concentrated in They’re usually away from areas having integrated steel plants (Western India), to meet
Damodar Valley region (Eastern India) local demands + to avoid competition from integrated steel plants of the East.
Desi Steel Plan ts

Note: maps for most of the following steel plants are given on page 88 and 89 of NCERT Class 12 (India People and Economy), do
refer to it.
Factor TISCO, Jamshedpur Bokaro, Jharkhand
Noamundi-Singhbhum, Jharkhand
Noamundi in Jharkhand
Iron ore Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Kiriburu, Odisha
Both within 100 kms radius
Jharia, Raniganj
Coal Jharia Mines just 65 kms away
Both within <200 kms radius
Sundargh district, Odisha

Limestone dolomite from Palamau
Maganese from Joda mines, Keonjhar, Odisha
Energy Hydroelectricity from Damodar Valley corporation
Water for
Via pipelines from Subarnarekha and Kharkhoi rivers Damodar river
cooling
Labour Abundant supply of Cheap labour from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and the tribal belt of Chhota-Nagpur platteau.
rail-water connectivity to Kolkata, just 300

Transport Railway connectivity to Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai
kms away
Secondary industries located in the region that use steel to

manufacture machine tools, automobiles, agro-machines,
tine-plates, wires etc. sludge-slag from the plant provides raw
Market TELCO (Tata Engineering and Locomotive company) material to Sindri fertilizer industry.
produces produces crude steel and pig iron
Consumer cars /SUVs like sumo, safari, indica, sierra etc.
and heavy vehicles, including armored carriers for army.
Setup in 1907, just two years after Lord Curzon partition

Bengal.
TISCO =Tata Iron and Steel company
Trivia with Soviet help in ‘72
TISCO plant wasn’t setup by Jamshedji Tata but his son
Sir Dorabji Tata
Manganese is used for hardening steel.
Factor Durgapur, WB Burnpur, WB
Singhbhum, Jharkhand
Singhbhum, Jharkhand
Iron ore Kendujhargah, Odisha
Mayurbhanj Odisha
Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Raniganj, WB
Coal Jharia, just ~130 kms away
Jharia, Jharkhand
Birmitrapur, Odisha
Limestone Sundargarh, Odisha, just ~300 kms
Managanese: Bonaigarh, Barbil in North Odisha
Energy Damodar valley

Water for
Damodar river
cooling
Labour No shortage of cheap labour.
plant on the main railwayline between Delhi-Kolkata good rail connectivity sea ports @Odisha +
Transport
Navigable Canal from Durgapur to Hugli and Kolkata Port Kolkata
Market pig iron, tools, alloys, light structural products rails, galvanized steel, billets
Trivia ’64 with collaboration from UK initially a private plant, nationalized in ‘72
factor Rourkela, Odisha Bhilai, Chhattisgarh
Sundargarh, Keonjar District of Odisha Dugar, Chandrapur and Bastar

Iron ore
within radius of ~70kms Dalli-Rajhara range 80km away
Jharia, Korba, Chhatisgarh (~225kms)

Coal Telchar, Bokaro, Jharia (~720 kms)
Korba Raniganj, WB
Nandini mines ~25 kms away

Manganese from Balaghat (MP) + Bhandara
Limestone Birmitrapur (MH)
Manganese Barajmda Balaghat
Energy Hirakud (just 150 kms away) Korba Thermal station
Water for Bramani river

Tandula Reservoir
cooling reservoir on Mandira Dam (Sankh River)
Labour cheap labor available.
Transport Both connected to Kolkata Nagpur Railway
provided special steel for
ISRO’s launch vehicles itself uses steel to make rails, beams and
Market
Vijayenta tanks other structural products.
building Mathura refinery
first Swadeshi steel plant

with help of former USSR, 1959
Trivia setup in ‘59, With help from West Germany Main location factor= Government policy
to setup plant here, to remove
backwardness of this region.
Steel Plant: South India
factor Vishveshwarya, Karnataka Salem, TN
just 40kms away Baba Budan hills, in Bailadila mines, Odishalocal iron ore also available- has low
Iron ore
Chikmanglur. phosphorous-sulfur content=>helps making special grade Iron and Steel.
Bhundiguda
Coal Manganese: Shimoga, Chitradurga just Either imported or brought from Jharkhand depending on price factor
50kms away
Limestone available within 50km radius Birmitrapur
In early days, used charcoal from

forest wood.
Energy now uses hydroelectric power from Mettur has both thermal and hydro projects
Sharawati and Mahatma Gandhi
project
Water for
Bhadra river don’t know and too tired to google
cooling
located on main railway line of Biru-

Transport Chennai port
Shimoga.
billets, rails, wheels alloy steel and Salem steel is useful in TN’s automobile industry, elevators, lifts, coins,
Market
sleepers for railways. ceiling fans.Also caters Government mints (for making coins).
In 1923 as private company “Mysore

Trivia Started in 82. Location chosen due to political considerations.
Iron and Steel”. Nationalized in ‘89
Vishakhapatnam, AP
Iron ore Bailadila, Chhattisgarh
Coal Damodar Valley, Jharkhandalso imports metallurgical coal from Australia
Limestone From MP, Odisha, Chhattisgarh
Energy Natural gas from Krishna-Godavari Basin
Vishakhapatnam itself a Port= rail connectivity with other states.+ helps in import of raw material and export of final
Transport
products.
trivia First shore based plant of India.
Secondary industries
these industries rely on the raw materials produced by other industries
therefore seconded industries are often located near the companies which make their raw material industry, for example
industry located near
1. Heavy engineering steel factories
2. petrochem / synthetic fibers crude oil refineries
Engineering industries
engineering Light Heavy
kitchen utensils, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and shipbuilding, railway wagons, hydro turbines, thermal
examples
variety of home and office appliances. generators, transformers etc.
Can afford to transport steel over longer distances and Need large quantities of steel => located fairly close to iron-
location
therefore scattered in distribution. steel industry to reduce transport cost.
Heavy engineering industry

They require:
1. huge amount of power

2. large capital investment
3. skilled labor
But main factor is: transport cost for heavy and bulky raw material (steel)=> Heavy engineering industry is usually located near steel
plants.
Earlier we saw that steel plants themselves are located in the Damodar Valley and surrounding region (WB, Odisha, Jharkhand) for easy
availability of iron ore, limestone, coking coal, energy and cooling water. Now let’s see examples of how heavy engineering industry is
also located in the same region, because of those steel plants.
Place Heavy Industry

Heavy engineering Corporation Ltd in Rachi. They make blast furnaces for steel plants, heavy crushing and grinding
J harkhand
equipment, rolling mills, rigs for oil wells
Durgapur: heavy engineering factory for mining equipment

Chittaranjan Locomotives: steel from Durgapur (~70 kms) and hydroelectricity from Damodar Valley.
WB
Textile machinery Corporation has more than 60 units in Kolkata-Howrah region, for assembling jute mill
machineries
Odisha machineries for paper Mills are manufactured @Rourkela
Thanks to Salem steel plant

Chennai factories for agricultural, mining machinery: earthmovers, excavators, bulldozers, power readers, threshers,
harvesters, cutters, tractors
For videshi heavy industry, we already saw the examples in those industrial region tables above.
Shipbuilding industry
Location factors:
physical factors economic factors
steel availability
large, level coastal land capital
deep navigable waters demand
skilled workers
Japanese Shipbuilding industry
Located @Nagoya, Tokyo-Yokohama, Hiroshima
1. Japan relies on imported iron= steel mills are @costal location => heavy marine engineering industry also @costal location =
heavy machinery, boilers, engines, cable ropes and electric installations….all the raw material and spare-parts are locally available
for shipbuilding.
2. Auxiliary industries already developed because of automobiles.
3. robots: to compensate for less number of workers
4. Excellent harbours and bays for launching ships.
5. Mild climates to keep water of the rivers and estuaries free from freezing.
6. Great domestic as well as foreign demand for fishing boats and merchant vessels respectively.
German Shipbuilding
1. Availability of tidal estuaries of the Elbe, Weser, Oder and Lubec Bay
2. Advantage of highly developed iron and steel industries in the country.
3. Possession of technical and skilled labour.
4. Patronage of technical institutions of the country.
5. large domestic and foreign demands for her vessel.
Now some passing references
Boston
Chief center of shipbuilding is Mid-Atlantic coast region.
The area has easy access to tidal waters and availability of large quantities of steel.
India
Vishakhapatnam itself has steel industry and Kolkata well connected with steel industries of Jharkhand and WB = raw material
available nearby.
flat/level coastal land available
rich hinterland with excellent railroad connectivity for transport of labor and ancillary components
Indigenous demand from ONGC, for offshore platforms, drilling rigs and steel jackets + from Indian Navy and Coast guards.
Other than that, not much wisdom is given on location factors for shipbuilding industry in India, just establishment years, naming-
renaming, types of ships made/repaired etc.
Automobile industry
Automobile industry requires large variety of raw materials from other industrial sources viz. steel, nonferrous metals, window-
glass, plastic, rubber, wood, paint, textile, electronic cables, seat cushions etc.etc.etc.
For continue mass production on the assembly line, you need continuous supply of those spare parts, raw material.
Therefore, best location for automobile industry=established industrial region that has tradition of manufacturing such
components. (e.g. we saw earlier Midlands, UK=Layland; Mercedes/Volkswagen near Ruhr Germany; Volvo Sweden.)
Detroit: Car Capital of World
Factor impact
on the bank of Detroit River, linked to Lake Huron

Detroit is connected to Windsor, Canada via tunnel across the river. Detroit cars find market in Canada as
Transport
well.
Great lakes = cheap and easy water transport.
In early 19th Century, flour mills developed using running water from river as energy source. later internal
combustion engines for boats
Labor consequently, many repair shops opened in the region
They also started building machines needed for the iron-steel smelters in Pittsburg region.
Thus, Destroit has a long tradition of building machines=generations of skilled labour + sparepart industry
available
William Durant (the father of General Motors), initially used to manufacture railway carriages in the same
Entrepreneurs region.
Henry Ford, earlier worked in Detroit Automobile Company, later setup his own Ford Automobile here.
Iron-steel from the Pittsburg

Since Detroit has long tradition of machine-building, there are numerous intermediate industries providing raw
Raw Material
material for seat-cushions, spray-paint, tyres, electronic circuit and various car accessories to the trinity of
Ford, GM and Chrysler.
Detroit Bankruptcy
Without going into all details:
This bankruptcy is filled by Detroit Municipality and not by Detroit Automobile industry
Detroit Municipality had sold “bonds” to finance their operations (fire dept., police dept. and various municipal works, social
services, healthcare, pension expenses)
Now they don’t have the ca$h to repay money to bond-holders (need around 18 billion dollars). So, Municipality filled
Bankruptcy under Chapter 9 of Bankruptcy Act
This Chapter 9 protects financially-distressed municipalities from legal prosecution from their creditors while they negotiate a plan
for arranging money / re-writing the loan conditions.
Although Automobile industry was a factor in Detroit Bankruptcy. How?
era population of Detroit
1950s around 18 lakh
present around 7 lakh and among them, barely 280,000 people are of working age.
so why ^this growth and decline in population? because in the 50s, Detroit was a booming automobile industry. But later, other
States of USA also offered tax benefits to Automobile giants so they started setting up plants elsewhere.
Competition from Japanese automobiles
+ recession => auto-sales declined
As a result: automobile and spare part factories of Detroit began to shut down and workers started moving to other cities for
jobs= less workers in Detroit=less tax payers. And many of Detroit-folks barely earn ~27,000 dollars per year =you cannot
extract a lot of tax out them.
Since people left the city, many houses are vacant=less property tax.
Thus Detroit Muni. doesn’t have lot of ‘incoming’ money
On the other hand, outgoing money is high because of pension-healthcare to old people; unemployment=>crime rate=>more
expenditure on police; vacant properties=>more fire-incidents=>more expenditure fire department and so on.
Therefore, Detroit Muni. unable to pay back the bond-money and hence the bankruptcy.
Toyota-Nagoya region, Japan
Toyota Motor Company setup plant in Koromo.Koromo =silk industry was on decline= high unemployment=
labor
cheap labour force was available.
technology innovation by reverse engineering US-technology
Nearby Nagoya= metropolitan area= ideal for auxiliary corporate services + port for exporting cars to US and other
transport
countries of Asia.
government
Koromo’s local government provided cheap land for the factory.
policy
And thus, a rural silk growing area turned into a majour industrial district in automobile production.
Later, majority of Japanese automobile companies set up plants in the Tokyo-Nagoya regions. (Except Mazda in Hiroshima)
Sanand, Ahmedabad: the Nano Factory
Ahmedabad-Vadodara industrial region has many factories for spareparts, car-accessories, tires, circuit, glasses
Raw etc.
Material Nano having small-cheap model, doesn’t require that much iron-steel compared to a Truck or SUV. + located
near ports for easy import.
Located in Delhi-Mumbai Industrial corridor (DMIC)=>easy transport of spare parts, raw material and finished
cars.
Transport
Mundra port ~180 kms: has container depots for vehicles + ro-ro terminal for loading and unloading vehicles
Similarly Kandla Port: just ~250 kms away.
Tata said they’d train the local youth for working in the Nano plant.
Labor Ahmedabad district large population + urban amnesties=> no need to setup special township for workers and
their families.
Market A’bad to Mumbai: developed region with lakhs of middle-class families.+proximity to ports=easy car export.
Energy Tata working on 4000MW Ultra Mega Power Project in Mundra (~180kms) using imported coal.
Most of the land belonged to Anand University (and hence to State government). Hence, Land acquisition done
Land
without much problem.
Machine tools
Unlike heavy engineering industry, the machine tool industry doesn’t need to be right besides steel plants. Proximity to market and
skilled labor = deciding factors. For example:
HMT Hindustan Machine tools.has units in Bangalore, Pinjore (Haryana), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Srinagar etc.
Instrumentation ltd @Kota,

Rajasthan
magnetic, electromagnetic equipment’s
Kerala @Palkkad, hydraulic and pneumatic instruments
Observe that none of above places are famous for iron-steel production.
Light engineering industry

These articles are fairly light and require small amount of raw materials. (e.g. various household and office equipment)
Such industries rely on electricity rather than coal or oil for power.
For them skilled labour, transport, market, favorable government policies (SEZ/Taxation) are more important factors than
proximity to raw material.
They can be found near major cities rather than in traditional industrial areas near coalmines.
We’ll see about them in detail later in the articles for market/labour factors in industrial location.
Mock Questions
For UPSC General Studies (Mains) Paper 1.
12 marks
1. Analyze the factors reasonable for location of iron- steel industry in Chhota Nagpur region? Ans in Next Page Scroll Down..
2. What factor were considered for setting up iron and steel plant at Durgapur?
3. Explain why Western India doesn’t have any major iron-steel industry.
4. Proximity to mineral resources is important but not essential requirement for development of iron and steel industries. Agree /
disagree? Justify your stand with suitable examples from India / Abroad.
5. Discuss the role of energy source as a factor for location of steel industries.
6. How does Industrial inertia affect the location of secondary industries?
7. To what extent is the availability of power supply a major location factor? Why do coalfields exert a greater influence than
oilfields on the industrial location?
8. Assess the role played by local sources of iron ore in the development of iron and steel industry either in Europe or in USA.
9. Outline the locations of iron and steel industry in any one country, and show how it has factored in the location of secondary
industries.
25 marks
1. List any three major industrial regions in three different continents which are found near coalfields and explain the factors, apart
from proximity to coalfields that have helped in their growth?
2. Important industrial regions of the World usually found at the middle latitudes. Comment
3. Using the examples of any two countries of your choice, explain the factors responsible for the establishment and development of
automobile industry.
4. Write a note on the distribution of Iron-Steel and heavy engineering industry in India and the factors responsible for it.
Previous Posts
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General Studies Mains Paper 1
[Geography] Location Factors: Wheat, Corn, Milk, Meat, Pig, Poultry, Vegetable and
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GS Mains Paper 1 & Detroit Bankruptcy (Need Chrome)! (free!)
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Anshuman Rai
Hi everyone
can anyone tell me on which address do we need to send the documents for JPSC 5th CCS? I’m not able to get the address.
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plz do guide me for IFoS G.S especially sports column and important dignitaries…..botany and agriculture as optionals
http://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/geography/why-is-the-iron-and-steel-industry-located-around-the-chotanagpur-
plateau.html
Why is the iron and steel industry located around the Chotanagpur plateau ?
Ans: Chotanagpur area along with the region, which includes a part of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Eastern Madhya Pradesh
accounts for the highest concentration of minerals in India. It is also called the Damodar basin.
It is the most important centre where coal, which is a raw material in Iron and Steel industry, is found in abundance. It is good for
smelting iron-ore.
Iron-ore is found in abundance and it occurs with coal in close proximity which favours the installment of iron and steel industry in
this region.
Other supplement minerals e.g. manganese, bauxite and limestone are found in this part of the plateau in abundance.
Water, which is required, is provided by Damodar river and its tributaries, which is a perrineal source of water.
Cheap and sturdy labour from the tribes of Chotanagpur and from neighboring mining areas is available.
This area possesses a fine network of railways and roadways which help in easy transportation of the raw materials and finished
products.
The area is near the port which helps in import of machinery and export of manufactured steel. Steel is locally consumed by
Ranchi factory, etc.
http://www.importantindia.com/4703/essay-on-chota-nagpur-industrial-region/
Essay on Chota Nagpur Industrial Region
Posted in Indian Geography by Anil Bose On October 1, 2013. No comments
The Chota Nagpur Plateau Region
Chota Nagpur plateau is a dissected plateau in India. It is one of the most important industrial region in India. It comprises of the
districts of Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Palamou, Santal Parganas of Bihar and Purulia districts of West Bengal. In
the north of Chota Nagpur pla•teau there is the Ganga Plain, Orissa in the south, East Gangetic Plain in the East and Madhya
Pradesh and Bangelkhand Plateau in the West.
The Chhotonagpur plateau is divided into three broad physical divisions:
Ranchi Plateau,
Hazaribagh Plateau,
Kodarma Plateau.
Ranchi is the highest part of this plateau.
Chota Nagpur – Store house of minerals.
Chota Nagpur plateau is called the store house of minerals of India.
No other part of India is as rich in minerals as this region is. It accounts for 40 to nearly 70% per cent of the country’s production of
various minerals—except petroleum.
The minerals fouun in Chota Nagpur Plateau are coal, iron-ore, copper, asbestos, bauxite, china clay, chromite, dolomite, limestone,
feldspar, fire clay, keonite, manganese, mica, silica, steatite, vanadium steatite, uranium gold, antimony, etc. are found in different
parts of this plateau.
Coal: Jharia, Bokaro, Karanpura, Giridi, Ramgarh, Daltangunge, and Damodar Valley are producing near about 74% of total coal
production in India.
Iron-ore: Noamundi, Gua, Kolhan, Dharwar, Budabaru, etc. are producing high grade Hematite iron ore nearly 40% of the total
production of India is obtained from Chhotonagpur Plateau.
Dolomite: Dolomite is mainly found in the Palamou district of India.
Limestone: Limestone is found at Chaibasa, Jagnnathpur, Singbhum, Hosir-Bachra-Dundway, Babhana-Hoyar-Khalari areas of
Ranchi District; Bundu-Bansaria, and Kurkuta region of Hazaribagh District.
Mica: Chhotonagpur plateau is the largest producer of Mica in India. Kodarma, Domchanchi, Jhumri-Tilaiya, Giridhi, are the major Mica
producing centre of the plateau. Ruby Mica of Kodarma is world famous.
Bauxite: It is mined at Jojohati & Roroburu and in the Kolhan estate of Singbhum district of this plateau. Lohardaga is noted for bauxite.
Copper: Copper is mined at Rakha, Masabni in Singbhum districts.
Asbestos: It is mined at Singhbhum district, Narda, Kalimati, Jojohati and Roroburu.
Feldspar: It is mined near Chrichaki, Bagardih, Bengro, Kubadih and Hundru etc.
Kyanite: It is mined at Singhbhum district (Lapsa Buru).
Fire-clay: It is mined at Rajhara and Latihar in the Palamou districts.
China-clay: It is mined at Hat Gamaria, and its adjoining region.
Manganese: Manganese is mined at Singhbhum district of this region. Gold is mined in the sands of Subarnarekha of river of this
region.
Because of the enormous deposition of above mentioned minerals, the plateau is known as the ‘store-house of minerals.
Chotanagpur plateau is developed in metallurgical industries
Chotanagpur plateau is developed in metallurgical industries be•cause of the following factors:—
Availability of metallic minerals like iron-ore, bauxite, manganese, copper, chromite.
Availability of coal at Jharia, Bokaro, Karanpura, Giridih.
Availability of chromium at Jozohati and Rasoburu.
Well-developed transport and communication especially of railways (SE/E) roadways
Cheap power (hydel & thermal) and cheap labors.
Kolkata port facility, iron steel, aluminium, heavy machine plants, machine tools heavy
Engineering, foundry forge, steel pore, pipes and fitting, rail engine, locomotives, wagon, rails etc. developed here.
Industries in Chotanagpur Region
The main industries of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region includes Iron and steel, automobiles, rail engines, chemical fertilizers,
explosives, coal washery, cement, heavy engineering, machine tools, paper, asbestos. glass and ceramic, refractory, agricultural
machineries, earth moving ma•chineries, electrical cables and wire, heavy chemicals, mining machineries, foundry forge projects,
telephone & telegraph equipments textile industry, diesel engines for motor boat, copper melting station, high tension insulator, zinc
based industries, aluminium factory.
Iron & Steel: Jamshedpur and Bokaro have two big iron and steel factory which are producing each and every kind of steel products.
Automobile: Telco is producing different kinds of automobiles (cars, trucks, mini bus, lorry etc.). The factory is also producing rail
engines for narrow-gauge railways. Besides these, the factory is also producing agricul•tural implements etc.
Chemical Fertilizer: Sindhri has the largest chemical fertilizers. It has also cement factory.
Explosive: An explosive factory based on coal, is established at Gomia.
Cement: Cement factories are established at Khelari, Japla, Jhinkapani and Bokaro.
Heavy Engineering: Heavy engineering, machine tools are produced at Ranchi, Hatia, Jamshedpur and Adityapur.
Aluminium: Dhanbad and Muri have aluminium factories which are producing utensils, and different types of aluminium products.
Mining Machineries: Dhanbad is producing all sorts of mining machin•eries.
Textile: Jasidi has textile factory producing clothes and other products.
Electrical and Telephone equipments etc. are produced at Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Sindhri etc.
Glass-ceramic Refractory is situated at Ramgarh, Dhanbad, Barakar, which are producing glass & ceramic and bricks and tiles.
Paper: Paper mill is functioning at Dalmianagar.
Foundry Forge: High tension insulator, electrical equipments etc. producing factories are situated at Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro etc.
Copper: A copper melting plant has been established at Moubhandar.
Micanite industries are established at Ranchi, Hazaribag and Kodarma.
Besides these, there are innumerable mills and factories situated at Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Giridih, Jhumri-Tilaiya, Chaibasa,
Jamshedpur, Jharia, Dhanbad, Daltongunge, Harihargunge, Garwa and Japla and are produc•ing innumerable consumer products.
Abhishek Goyal
Hello….
I am having trouble in understanding the concept of “Horizontal Distribution of Temperature in Atlantic Ocean during different Season”
Please Explain… i have read material but couldn’t relate much… Plz explain it in a layman language… I shall appreciate..
Thanku Frnds.. And Good Luch with Prep.
sandeep
@kavita: which books u r refering for botany?
Kavita Shukla
Sandeep …i m going wid…lehninger…p d sharma…op sharma…taiz n many more…suggest me for agriculture…..n how to go for taxonomy
families? Also tell how to keep track prep. Difference in IFoS n IAS Gk
Kavi
How to go wid notes mrunal sir…..its painful for d eyes….any hard copy is available?Sir i need ur urgent help in IFoS n IAS prep. Since i m
a fresher
TTK
Hi sir,
I think Bhilai was selected for the plant mainly because of the availability of raw materials nearby.
Please clarify.
thanks,
tharun.
kma
hi evry1..i have a doubt..when supreme court passes a judgement on changes in law like it did in case of representation of peoples act
section 8(4) as unconstitutional…what is the process next?? how should houses respond..how the judgement will followed up by legislature…
time frame in which legislature has to make changes to laws if they agree and what will they do if they dont agree with supreme court??
(similarly wat happens at state level, between high court and state govt)
Sai Shetty
Great Compilation Mrunal bhai
.
I am dedicately following your blog for this mains..
I would like to request you to please guide us for other papers as well.gs 2 and gs 3 is equally chalenging..
I Would suggest at least you could finD relevant sources for each sub topic ..and we will find them…at least we will get to know the best of
the sources..
and great work mrunal bhai…
guddu
hey, can anyone throw light on why the automobile industry is concentrated in the region of Delhi-Gurgaon in India, given the raw material
like steel etc are manufactured far off.
« Older Comments 1 2
HOME BIODIVERSITY JULY 23RD, 2013 32 COMMENTS
[Geography] Location Factors: Cotton Textile, Wool, Silk, J ute; Why China #1 in Silk; Why Textile
industry in Osaka, Manchester, Lancashire, Mumbai
Cotton and textile industry
Climate
Mumbai
Osaka, Japan
Ahmedabad
Coimbatore
Manchester & Lancashire industry
American cotton industries
Chinese textile industry: Shanghai
Wool
Climate factor
Land size
Economies of Scale
Woolen Mfg: Rise and Decline of Britain
India: Wool business
Silk Industry
Europe: Labor no, Market yes
Japan: No labour + No market
China: Why Top Silk producer?
India: Labour+market
Karnataka: factors
Kanchipuram: factors
Jute Industry
Mock Questions
In the previous article, we saw the factors responsible for location of Lumber, Paper Pulp and Fishing industry (click me). Now let’s
check some industries based on natural fibers.
Cotton and textile industry

Cotton as a raw material=lightweight, non-perishable.
Cotton to yarn/textile =hardly any weightloss.
Therefore, proximity to raw material site=not essential, doesn’t offer great cost-saving in transportation. (unlike sugar, cement or
steel industry)
Result=other factors become more important in industrial location viz.
1. nearness to market
2. nearness to waterbody (for dyeing, bleaching)
3. Energy to run powerlooms and textile machines
4. cheap labour supply
5. availability of capital/finance
Climate
In dry climate, the cotton-threads will break quickly during spinning. Machine halts, you’ve to join the threads again to restart
operation=not good for mass production.
on the other hand, humid climate= thread will rarely break. So, cotton textiles were setup near costal areas. (e.g. Mumbai, Osaka,
Lancashire).
Today we’ve humidifiers that can artificially increase the air-moisture in factory/workshed= you can setup factory anywhere, run it
efficiently, irrespective of climate outside.
Anyways, let’s examine from desi-videsi cotton industries
Mumbai Osaka, Japan

nickname Cottonopolis of India Manchester of Japan
Black lava soil=good for cotton cultivation

black soil of Maharashtra good for cotton (short, medium
but not sufficient to meet the demand.
Raw staple)
Osaka=port location, majority of production
material port location= easy to import long-staple cotton from Egypt,
done with imported cotton from India, Egypt
foreign textile machinery.
etc.
Climate Location near sea=humid climate = threads don’t break
Power from Tata hydroelectric grid in Western ghat Hydel power station near Osaka
Transport Mumbai=well connected via rail, road, airways, seaways. Osaka=Sea port + important railway junction.
Water Mithi river=Soft water for dyeing, bleaching. Yodo river
During American War of Independence capitalists of

Mumbai earned big profit by exporting cotton. This money
Capital Available from both government and private sector.
was used to establish textile mills.
Today, Mumbai has good facilities for banking-finance.
Skilled, but not abundant.

Labour Cheap, Abundant, skilled High production using latest machines and
automation technology.
Local market + export by sea to Australia, US. +

Market Mumbai and India=large population =vast market Japan also uses petro-refinery byproducts for mfg.
synthetic fibers.
let’s look @some more cotton mills
factor Ahmedabad Coimbatore
same + cotton variety known as “Cambodia

Raw material Available from nearby districts.
cotton” is grown.
Energy Thermal power plant near Sabarmati Pykara Hydel project
Water for dyeing, cleaning,
Sabarmati, Khari river Noyyal river
bleaching
Large market in Gujarat and neighboring

states Large demand in Southern States+ Chennai port
Market
proximity to Mumbai port=yarn also for export
exported to Japan
Although in the 80s, most of the Ahmedabad mills fell sick and closed down. Industry shifted towards Surat-Khambhat region of
Gujarat.
Manchester & Lancashire industry

The rise of Cotton Industry in Britain
Climate moist Westerlies =humidity=threads don’t break
Raw
Cheap Cotton from its colonies (India, Egypt).
Material
Liverpool port
Transport
Later Manchester Ship Canal was developed to turn Manchester itself into a port.
Water Streams from Pennine hills=soft water for dying bleaching.
In the initial phase of Industrial revolution, same water was used as source of energy for running Arkwright’s
Energy spinning machine.
later, coal utilized from Northern England and Wales
By 1600 production of a fabric called “fustian” started in England.

Labor
Fustian makers settled in this region because humidity helps in cotton spinning.
Market Demand in Europe + Lancashire faces American ports.
The decline
After WW2, Britain lost its colonies one by one, dirt cheap cotton=no longer available.
during 20th century cheaper imports from Hong Kong, Japan and other parts of Asia. Even the former colonies of Britain also
started using those cheaper clothes, so Lancashire=no longer receiving large orders.
Business moving towards coastal areas for better opportunities in shipbuilding, marine engineering, soap, heavy chemicals
industries.
Hence, Textile industry fading away, old factories are refitted for production of light-engineering items. (Reason? = industrial
inertia, we will see that in Iron-steel industry article later on.).
American cotton industries
Two important regions
New England region Cotton belt in south
North Carolina, South Carolina ,Georgia,

6 States located in the North East corner of US Alabama, Mississippi. Include parts of Texas and
California.
large cotton growing areas: US cotton belt is
Proximity to Boston and New York= ports and domestic market.
1200+kms broad and 4000+kms wide.
slave labor during colonial era helped in

growth.
immigrant workers
Today farming is mechanized=lack of labor
doesn’t create much problem.
hydroelectric power along major rivers (e.g.

coal from Appalachian region
Tennessee)
Vast land provides more room for

The New England factories little room for expansion due to mountains. expansion. (and use easy use of large
Today New England industry is concerned mainly with high-end machineries on farmland)
specialized fashion products for New York etc. While Southern Mills Southern state also had pulp mills for
produce garments for masses. production of rayon= growth of both
cotton+synthetic industry.
Chinese textile industry: Shanghai

Observe the map and think about the factors that are helping Shanghai
Factor How does it help?

Climate port city=humid=threads don’t break
Raw Material Yangtze-kiang delta=good for cotton cultivation
Shanghai itself a port city

Transport good railroad connectivity with hinterland.
Yangtze river =inland water transport.
Water+ Energy Yangtze river

Labor of course available
1. Kobe, Taiwan, S.Korea, Hong Kong : all located within 1000 nautical miles
Market
2. market within china: Nantong, Wuhan, Chongquing etc. connected via Yangtze river.
Apart from Shanghai, Cotton also produced in the areas around Hwang-Ho valley, Sichuan, Nanjing, Beijing and thanks to labor
availability (and domestic demand), textile industry is found in those places as well.
Wool
Let’s examine videsi (foreign) wool business first. Majority of wool production comes from southern hemisphere: Australia, NZ,
Argentina and South Africa. So, first question, why does Southern Hemisphere lead in Wool production?
Climate factor
Damper, cooler condition in the temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere=not so good for wool production.
Dry warmer climates of Southern hemisphere= provide better conditions for wool production. e.g. Interior Australia, South Africa
and the rain shadow area of Pantagonia in Argentina
Land size
Australia, dry continent= large-scale agriculture is not possible anyways.
sheep can survive in bad climatic conditions
Therefore, sheep rearing provides the best economic use of the land for the farmers.
Economies of Scale
Economies of scale = if you do something on large scale, then unit cost of production will decrease.
In Australia, Sheep rearing is done on a large scale = economies of scale = lower cost of production.
This enables wool producers from southern hemisphere to compete with Indian, European or North American producers despite
the added cost of transporting wool from South to North hemisphere.
So far so good: Australia leads in wool production. But Australia doesn’t lead in finished woolen textiles (e.g. sweaters, mufflers,
coats, socks etc.) why?
1. For woolen textile, the Customers/target audience= colder northern countries. Australia’s own local market is small.
2. Woolen textile business require skilled workers. In Australia, low-population =wage rates higher.
Therefore, Australia leads in wool production but not in textile.
Woolen Mfg: Rise and Decline of Britain

During Industrial revolution phase, Yorkshire of Britain= major woolen Manufacturing region because
1. local supply of wool

2. Water from nearby streams for washing and dyeing processes.
3. Coal available to run machines.
But later, large-scale sheep rearing started in the southern continents: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and Argentina.
Pricewise, the British could not in wool production= sheep rearing activity declined. Today sheep are raised mainly for meat
industry.
Woolen cloths also face competition from cheaper synthetic fibers.
Thus, Yorkshire Woolen textile industry still continues to operate using imported wool from Southern hemisphere, to meet the
European demand but the former glory is gone. (just like of Manchester in Cotton-textile biz)
Now let’s come back to India
India: Wool business

Factor Why?
Wool as raw material =non-perishable, lightweight.

for Apparels : Indian wool = coarse fibers=irritates body. If you want to make decent apparels, you’ve
Nature of
import Australian wool anyways. (exception Kashmiri Shawls)
raw material
For non-apparels: Even to produce decent Carpets, blankets, you’ve to mix it with New Zealand’s wool.
Hence location of woolen textile not tied to raw material site.
Winter in North India=brutally cold =good demand.

~75% of industries concentrated in Northern States because of market factor.
Market
Parallel to wool-market factor, you can see that Cotton textile industry is profound in southern half of India
because warm-humid climate=more demand for Cotton garments than woolen.
India: woolen textile regions
1. Srinagar: Kashmiri Shawl using Kashmiri goats.

Near Raw 2. Punjab: raw material from Ludhiana, Dhariwal, Amritsar
Material 3. Jamnagar: raw material Kathiawar (and parts of Rajsthan)
4. Rajasthan: Bikaner, Barmer
Kanpur: In 1870s, Kanpur became major center of woolen textile to meet the requirements of British
Near Market India Army.
Mumbai, Chennai= they mostly utilize imported wool for making apparels.
enough of wool, let’s move to silk
Silk Industry
Europe: Labor no, Market yes
One important requirement for sericulture = cheap female labour.
In the ancient-medieval times, both China and Japan had lot of poor peasants. Silk production=source of side-income for them.
Later, sericulture was even introduced in Europe (France, Italy).
But, French and Italian peasants were used to higher standard of living, they were unwilling to undertake such painstaking work
for little reward.
France- in the mid 1800s, a disease wiped out most of silkworms, sericulture industry could never recover. Thus, France has no
local production of silk, yet Lyon city is famous for its silk garments. Why?
Labour Lyon city of France= important fashion center= skilled labor, fashion designers available.
Raw
Silk= easy to transport, non-perishable, non-bulky. Can be easily imported from China.
Material
Natural silk is considered a luxury item and fashion statement among rich in US, Europe. Good demand of silk
Market
ties, scarves and lingerie.
America
Sericulture was even introduced in America but failed because lack of labor and better opportunities in other crops. Example
1. Virginia: sericulture was tried but, farmers found better income in Tobacco.
2. Georgia: farmers tried sericulture but found better returns in cotton- even for using cheap Slave labour (recall the Georgia falls in
the “Southern cotton belt”)
J apan: No labour + No market=#EPICFAIL
For long, Japan was a major producer of silk, but today it doesn’t even produce 0.5% silk in world. So, What factors caused decline
of Silk industry in Japan?
Factor how did it lead to decline?

Labour younger generation of peasant /weavers shifted to industrial sector for higher wages.
Capital Investors found better returns in automobile and electronics industry= lack of investment in silk industry.
Japanese Women shifted from traditional garment “Kimono” to western jeans and skirts=local demand of
silk declined.
Today Kimonos mainly worn for ceremonial/festival purpose- that small demand is met by cheap chinese
Market
silk.
After WW1, Silk was in high demand for women’s stockings in USA but later cheaper stockings were
locally produced using American nylon=market lost.
One dramatic example is Koromo town of Japan. Their silk industry was on decline= land and labour
Entrepreneurship available @cheap price. Toyota took the opportunity to setup factory. Thus a rural silk growing area
turned into a major automobile industry.
Today, only two big players in Silk-production: China and India. Quoting the numbers from Central silk board, India:
nation share in world cotton production% (2011)

China ~80%
India ~18%
Jap, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam each has 0.5% or less
China: Wh y Top Silk producer?
Temperate and tropical climate suitable for growth of unvoltine, bivolting and polyvoltine silk varieties.
Climate Lower Yangtze valley=finest white mulberry silk. This is near to Shanghai and locational advantages of
Shanghai already mentioned under cotton textile biz.
Chinese scientists developed hybrid varieties using Japanese and European silkworms. It is possible to rear
Technology
silkworms seven times a year.
China was the first country to start sericulture =labour is abundant and skilled. For additional income, they combine
Labour Sericulture with fish rearing in the Pearl-River valley=Mulberry leaves fed to Silkworm and dead silkworms fed to
Fishes.
Sericulture done via cooperatives (Silk Communes) =more efficient and standard production compared to
Government individual farmer.
Policy Government provides extension service, training etc.
In the 90s, Chinese government upgraded silk machinery with imported parts=improved quality of silk yarn
India: Lab our+mar ket

India grows all important varieties of silk: Mulberry, Oak Tasar, Tasar, Eri and Muga (code:MOTTEM)
But demand >greater than> production. So even we have to import from china. (particularly bivoltine mulberry silk )
Mulberry silk Non-Mulberry
mainly in Southern states
1. Karnataka 1. Jharkhand
2. TN 2. Chhattisgarh
3. AP 3. Odisha
4. NE
+ WB and JK
India: Why 2nd Largest Silk producer?

Mulberry plants
can be grown in any type of soil even in forest fringes, hill slopes
Raw Material can withstand draught
=works well in non-green revolution, non-irrigated areas of East and NE India.
Sericulture does not involve hard labor.

Labor Silkworms can be reared by women and old people=sideincome.
In Eastern States, Farmers earlier used to grow Jute but Jute demand declined so they shifted to Sericulture.
works on simple technology, no sophisticated equipment needed

Capital
can be done by small and marginal farmers, tribals.
Karnataka: factors
factor how does it help?
Mulberry grows easily due to climate
Raw Bombax variety of silk worm can be reared throughout the year
material
Karnataka uses hybrids of silkworm= can harvest five to six times a year.
Water Soft water, Free from iron and alkaline salts.
1. Men : mulberry plantation

Labour
2. Women: rearing silk warms
During WW2, entire production of Mysore silk was used for parachute manufacture. Hence silk prices escalated,
good profit, more area brought under cultivation.
Capital
(Recall how American War of Independence helped in expansion of Mumbai textile industry)
Central Silk board located @Banglore

Technology
Technical knowledge sharing by Japan Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Kanchipuram: factors
factor how does it help?
Raw silk from Karnataka
Zari threads from Surat, Gujarat

Raw material
(raw silk=lightweight, non-perishable)
Water Softwater from River Vegavathi.

Labour generations of silk weavers=skilled
Market Still good demand for Silk Saris in India.
moving to the next natural fiber
J ute Industry
Jute industry is a too clichéd 90s topic as far as UPSC is concerned but for the sake of completion:
Why did J ute Industry grow in West Bengal?
Raw
90% of Jute is cultivated in the Kolkata hinterland. Jute is the only crop that can withstand flooding of this region.
material
Energy Raniganj and Jharia coalmines
Water Jute processing require large quantity of water for washing, bleaching, retting. Hubly river helps.
Labour Jute-processing = labour intensive. Cheap labour available from Bihar, Odisha, W.Bengal.
Kolkata had good banking-finance facilities because initially it was the capital of British India. Hence Jute mills
Capital
flourished
Challenges
1. Wage rates need to be linked with productivity, new sophisticated machinery needed, but labour unions resistant = businessmen
not doing new investment.
2. After partition, mills remained in India, jute producing areas went to East Pakistan (Banglades). So Bangladeshis are now using
more modern machineries than while we’re still using outdated technology. (Because businessmen not doing new investment).
Hence Bangladeshi jute products are better and cheaper than ours in International market.
3. Competition from synthetic packaging material.
4. Lack of marketing strategy to promote Indian jute as eco-friendly, biodegradable packing material among environmentally
conscious customers in US and Europe.
Flax
Just passing reference:
From flax crop=>linen is made. Linen used for table cloths etc.
Flax processing also involves “retting” similar to Jute=>needs cheap labor and proximity to water bodies.
Done in poorer parts of Europe e.g. Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia etc.
What about synthetic fibers (Nylone, Polyester etc)=> we’ll see that in another article later on. For the curious souls: synthetic
fibers=>near to raw material (refineries)
Mock Questions
12 marks each
1. Japan barely grows any fibers except silk, yet has a thriving textile industry. Explain
2. Although Southern hemisphere dominates wool production but woolen textile industries are concentrated in Northern Hemisphere.
Explain
3. Why is Sheep rearing carried out on a large and profitable scale in Southern Hemisphere?
4. Examine the geographical basis of development of cotton textile industries in monsoon Asia.
5. Describe and account for the shifts in the textile industries of the world.
6. Location of Cotton textile industry depends on multiple factors.
7. Factors responsible for turning Mumbai into the Cottonopolies of India
8. Factors that have contributed to development of woolen industry in Jammu and Kashmir.
25 marks
1. Given an account of the natural fiber based textile industry in India and factors responsible for its distribution.
2. Factors responsible for silk industry in India and China.
3. From Osaka to Mumbai, From Shanghai to Lancashire, the factors responsible for the growth of textile industry have been one
and same. Comment.
4. “In case of textile industry based on natural fibers, proximity to raw material location is non-essential. “ Do you agree / disagree
with this statement. Justify with examples.
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32 comments to [Geography] Location Factors: Cotton Textile, Wool, Silk, Jute; Why China #1 in Silk; Print || PDF Subscribe
Why Textile industry in Osaka, Manchester, Lancashire, Mumbai (Need Chrome)! (free!)
Loyd
Nice articles sir…thank you
harsh
MRUNAL INDIAN GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL IS NOT EXPLICITLY MENTIONED IN THE 2013 MAINS SYLLABUS, SHOULD WE BE
PREPARING IT? ALSO ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIAN HISTORY NOT MENTIONED.
Naveen Shekhar
Oh,Ancient and Medieval history have never been a part of Mains syllabus.Same thing this time.But,yes ,cultural facets of those era
should be studied
preeti rai
greattttttt ….thanxx lot sir
manu
Sir would this article suffice or do we need some books also?
Anshuman Rai
Sir and All
what should be the order of preference after studying NCERT and GS Manual for Geography?
Pawan Baghel
Sir Can u help me for human geography part of geo. optional ?
Bongo
What help you need?
noob
I believe majid hussain’s works both Human geography and models and theories is commendable and would suffice. Its more important
to have a feel of human geography before you study models and theories. Say, what human geography is all about and why as a
discipline we study it in Geo. It should ideally take 3-4 weeks to complete the human geography part taking 4 hours a day if u have
some background of it.
Vishal
good article, efficiently written,definitely helpful for mains,thanks
sakshi
mrunal sir, jharkhand PCS prlims ka date kya hai……. maine search kiya but i m unable to find the same……… if anybody knows please
tell me…….. thanx
manoj
sir,
plz. u write on paper-4 on ETHICS
Arun
Mrunal,
Pl provide study materials for ethics????
saurabh
Hi Mrunal,
You are doing a great job for all IAS aspirants ,i want to know from you that from which book or source i can get good information on
“World’s Industrial Region”.
sakshi
Jharkahnd PCS ka prelims exam kab hai……… i have searched but unable to find please tell me if anybody know……
nini
sir how continental polar airmass will affect global climate?
anurag singh
greatttt work sirji
gaurav
thank u sir
Akshay
Thanks sir..for looking towards depressed class(students with geography as an optional). hope u will not prejudice against us further..
Student
Sir,
when can we expect Imperialism & Colonization (your Explanation)
Student
Sir,
when can we expect Imperialism & Colonization For America and pacific(your Explanation)
sudarsan
Could u pls start some articles on Security(law)topic.
vikash
sir plz post detailed strategy for gs mains as soon as possible………………your article is awesome
SENTHIL M
Guys…. mastering modern world history by Norman Lowe is available now , the price of the item is Rs.211 kindly grab your item before it
vanish.
Kabir
UPSC CSE 2014
Prelims 24 August
Mains 14 December
somit
thanks !!
PAL
kabir whos say’s it would be in this date as u mention ? decleared ?
KD
check upsc calender……..
Kabir
Probably due to elections.
Anupam
pl post more articles related to Geography mains optional 13
Mansoor Ahmad
I hope UPSC did not visit this website. If they do, they will have to again change syllabus to keep aspirants in the dark :p
Bharath Raj
Mr. Mrunal,well thought out and written.you have quoted from silk board about about silk production,but in the column you have written cotton
production,is it a typo error? And thank you for your efforts so far and for the future too.

Location Factors for Wheat, Corn, Dairy, Meat and Wine Production

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HOME BIODIVERSITY JULY 27TH, 2013 18 COMMENTS

1. timber and fish industry

Railroad connectivity via Canadian Pacific Railway

Technology use diesel operated special tractors to plough rice field

Later more reforms were taken viz.

1. China has more area under irrigation

Labour Dairy farming carried on for generations = skilled.

Scientific breeding of animals, vaccination, disease control

Alpine areas with natural grassland =good for grazing.

1. ample grassland for grazing

Transport Truck based refrigerated collection-distribution network, owned by farmer cooperatives.

Regional specialization: ice cream/cheese/butter

final product amt. of fresh liquid milk necessary

place distance from urban market (Los Angeles) specialization

US corn & livestock belt

1. corn gives high yield per acre compared to wheat

Corn=>fed to cattle/pigs/poultry=>meat exported.

only small labour force needed because planting+harvesting =highly mechanised

These farmers also grow soya bean, because

1. Soyabean =high amt. of protein=good for fattening animals

Often, Animal is reared in three different regions during its lifetime

Observe the following map:

stage Where? location from market(Chicago slaughter houses)

1. breeding ranches in Wyoming, Colorado farthest

2. initial growth Nebraska, Missouri medium

Iowa or Illinois (corn belt)

So, why this peculiar distribution/pattern?

port city, urban area, railroad

Shifting locations of US Meat business

1. Weight 1. When Bones, skins etc removed=weightloss upto 25%.

3. live cattle is much more difficult and bulky to transport

Pig rearing: away from Market

Factor: bogus agro-land

1 pound of ___ meat Pounds of ___ cornfeed required

California: veggies and fruits

1. Asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach etc.

so, Why is California a leading producer?

Dams on Sacramento River and feather River

Weeding, harvesting in veggi/fruit =require a sizeable labor force.

Since product =perishable=has to be transported via truck quickly to market.

Los Angeles=Hollywood + Silicon Valley.

Curious case of oranges

Orange are grown in both California and Florida, But

state What is done to oranges?

Von Thunen Agro land use model

Why ^this type of pattern/distribution? Von Thunen explained it with a theory:

place Relative distance from Delhi What will they do?

place Relative distance from London What will they do?

in northern hemisphere, grown on the hills facing South

^This is done to provide maximum sunlight

grapevines do not require plenty of water. (unlike Sugar)

grapes requires personal attention

Factor: Government policy

Just passing reference given in the books:

is made from barley

gluten content too high=can’t make good breads.

Raw discarded /bad quality gur (Jaggery), rotten barley etc

MAHENDRA PRATAP SINGH

Phase: bauxite to Alumina

Has largest deposits of Bauxite.

Eastern USA: Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama

Cheap electricity =deciding factor for location of Aluminum refinery.

1 pound of _ meat Pounds of _ cornfeed required