Figure 2: Total volume of iron castings per country The patterns are however not repeated when considering the total production of iron from the 3 largest foundries in each country, with Brazil and Russia producing similar volumes, which are not vastly different from South Africa. They are then followed by India and then China at the top of the log. Figure 3: Total iron production of 3 largest foundries in each country Employment patterns from 1 200 000 direct employees in China to 6618 direct employees in South Africa. A small anomaly emerged in that figures for indirect employee numbers were not available for Russia or China. Figure 4: Direct and indirect employee numbers in each country Jobbing and production ratios in BRICS iron foundries The figure below indicated the breakdown between jobbing and production ratios averaged across a 20% sample of all iron foundries in each BRICS country. An interesting picture emerges showing Brazil with established order books and recurrent orders, and India being very responsive to new orders. Russia and China have similar patterns and South Africa is closer to parity between the two types of orders. The average across the BRICS countries shows that recurrent orders are poised at 62% and non-recurrent orders at 38%. Figure 5: Survey sample average breakdown between jobbing and production foundries and BRICS Average Principal materials cast In BRICS iron foundries the main material is grey/flake cast iron as this comprises 55% of output; thereafter ductile spheroidal graphite is the next most important material at 31%, and then ductile pipe iron forming 4% of output. South Africa produces more spheroidal graphite than grey/flake cast iron, and is the only country in this category. An anomaly is that India provided no data on pipe iron.
Figure 2: Total volume of iron castings per country The patterns are however not repeated when considering the total production of iron from the 3 largest foundries in each country, with Brazil and Russia producing similar volumes, which are not vastly different from South Africa. They are then followed by India and then China at the top of the log. Figure 3: Total iron production of 3 largest foundries in each country Employment patterns from 1 200 000 direct employees in China to 6618 direct employees in South Africa. A small anomaly emerged in that figures for indirect employee numbers were not available for Russia or China. Figure 4: Direct and indirect employee numbers in each country Jobbing and production ratios in BRICS iron foundries The figure below indicated the breakdown between jobbing and production ratios averaged across a 20% sample of all iron foundries in each BRICS country. An interesting picture emerges showing Brazil with established order books and recurrent orders, and India being very responsive to new orders. Russia and China have similar patterns and South Africa is closer to parity between the two types of orders. The average across the BRICS countries shows that recurrent orders are poised at 62% and non-recurrent orders at 38%. Figure 5: Survey sample average breakdown between jobbing and production foundries and BRICS Average Principal materials cast In BRICS iron foundries the main material is grey/flake cast iron as this comprises 55% of output; thereafter ductile spheroidal graphite is the next most important material at 31%, and then ductile pipe iron forming 4% of output. South Africa produces more spheroidal graphite than grey/flake cast iron, and is the only country in this category. An anomaly is that India provided no data on pipe iron.
BRICS-IRON-FOUNDRIES-REPORT-V2.docx