1. Prologue
  2. overview of factors
  3. Types of industries
  4. Timber Based industries
    1. Factor: raw material
    2. Factor: River
    3. Factor: River direction
    4. Lumbering on commercial scale: Canada
    5. commercial lumbering: temperate vs tropics
    6. Paper-Pulp Industry
  5. Commercial fishing
    1. (Europe+America) VS Asia
    2. VS Southern Hemisphere
    3. Norway
    4. Japan
  6. 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’ or finding who is the largest producer as per latest data. It is your job to fill up the details as and where you feel necessary. And 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
    1. Wheat, rice, tea, groundnut etc. in India. Because they need to be prepared for agro topic under paper 3.
    2. 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.
    3. 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 raw material Bauxite=>alumina; Copper ore=>blister copper; Sugarcane=raw sugar. Weight loss is significant, during above processes. So, where should we setup these factories?
energy Despite having no significant bauxite reserves, Canada and Norway have aluminum refineries, why?
transport Why is Switzerland famous for wristwatches but not bulldozers?Why do port cities have lot of industries surrounding them?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?
labor Sierra Leone is famous for rough diamonds but not for jewelry, why?Largest assembly for iPhone is in China and not in US, why?
market demand Australia is a major supplier of wool but not major supplier of finished woolen garments, why?
Government policy Pharmaceutical industries that once had shifted from Gujarat/Maharashtra towards Hill states, are now returning back to the original states, why?
Capital Even after local coal-iron resources are depleted, the steel and heavy engineering industry doesn’t frequently shift its location, why?
Physical geography How does Canadian winter help in commercial exploitation of timber?Fishing industry more developed in Northern Hemisphere than in Southern Hemisphere, why?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

Primary

 They use natural raw material: Hunting-gathering, pastoral activities, fishing, forestry, agriculture, mining and quarrying

Secondary

 They make complex products using the material obtained from primary industry.

  • wooden pulp=> rayon
  • Steel=> automobiles, railway engines
  • aluminum, copper=> electronics
  • 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.

Tertiary

 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: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.

Timber Based industries

What are the geographical factors affecting location of this industry?

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, Himalayas
 US West Coast, Siberia
  • rivers flow in general direction of final market=keeps production, transport cost low
  • Rivers flow in the opposite direction from market areas=higher transport cost.
  • + 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

map-canada timber paper industry
In Canada, lumbering is a large-scale organized activity because of following reasons

Raw material
  • softwood= easy to chop
  • In coniferous forest, trees of same species are concentrated in one particular area = mass exploitation easier compared to tropical areas.

Transport
  • During winter, the Jungle surface is covered with snow= slippery surface= easier to move logs to rivers.
  • the forests are comparatively less dense than in tropical areas= easy to access. Areas connected by railroads

Labour
  • 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 lumberjacks.
  • Lumbering is highly mechanized with the help of chainsaws, bulldozers etc = low population-density doesn’t create much problem.

Market
  • These forests are close to economically developed regions, where demand for wood is higher e.g. USA for newsprint paper.

Commercial lumbering: temperate vs tropics

Difference between
temperate: opportunities tropical: challenges
trees of same species concentrated in a particular area=easy to exploit on commercial scale
  • In tropical areas some tree-species are extremely valuable, but they are scattered
  • This heterogeneous supply of timber= cost of gathering is high.
  • frozen ground helps transporting logs from jungle/hills up to rivers.
  • Valuable trees are scattered throughout jungle, you need some land transport before logs reach the rivers. But road construction is difficult due to rain, dense vegetation.
  • softwood = easy to float down the river streams
  • In Amazon and Zaire Basin, some trees are so heavy, it is difficult to float logs=high extraction cost
  • major industrial/urban areas are near=market
  • Settlement is sparse, economies are non-industrialized, away from demand areas (e.g Africa).
  • (Exception) Malaysian timber= finds ready-made market in Japan and Australia.
  • replantion programs, silviculture, strict government regulation on lumbering= jungles regenerate = lumbering is continuous economic acivity.
  • Lax regulations, slash-n-burn type agriculture, jungles are permanently destroyed. (+people like Veerppan given political 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?
Geographical factors affecting location of Paper industry
Raw material Forest area is large enough to supply timber on a constant basis.
Transport Ideal location for mill= riverside. It minimizes transportation problems.
Energy
  • one ton of newsprint may require 2000 kW hours of electricity
  • Canada has mountainous terrain + fast flowing rivers= Cheap hydroelectric Power available.
Labour
  • Paper and pulp mills are highly mechanized and require little manpower. (again cheap hydroelectricity helps running the machines)
  • they can be located in remote regions with an without experiencing labor shortage
Market
  • USA has highest paper consumption in the world, provides a ready-made market for the paper pulp industry of Canada.

Britain

Raw material Its timber output is negligible but still a major paper-producer thanks to pulp-imports from Sweden and Canada..
Transport
  • Mills located @coastal areas, to process imported material (=less transport cost) Example Mill near Thames estuary, Manchester Ship canal.
  • (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.

map-sweden-timber industry

South East Asia

Malaysia, Philippines Forests found on islands/peninsulas @no point very distance from sea, Hence can be extracted easily.hardwood much in demand by Australia and Japan
Myanmar, Thailand
  • Best wood found inland, has to be transported through rivers towards coast.

India: Timber industry

Notable locations
near raw material Dependent on bamboo, softwood. E.g. South Gujarat, Odisha, MP
near market
  • Kolkata: raw material brought from North Eastern States, cheap labor, coal, water available.
  • Lucknow: Depend on bagasse (from sugarmills), rags, wheat bran. Sabai grass brought from Terrai region.

In the next article, we’ll see the location factors affecting fishing industry Click me and then simutelnously mock question related to both industries.