Industry and natural resources: Europe

All across Europe things are being made — from food products, clothes, and electronics, to cars, chemicals, and airplanes. Manufacturing is a very important part of Europe’s economy. In 2020, almost 35 million people across the European Union and United Kingdom were working in the manufacturing industry alone. Let’s take a closer look at the biggest and most important industries across the continent. The biggest industry in Europe is cars — automotive manufacturing.

This creates more than 10 million jobs across the companies involved in the sourcing of materials, production of goods, their distribution and sale — across the supply chain. Germany, United Kingdom and Italy are leaders of the automotive industry in Europe, producing well-known brands of cars. Every year, more than 18 million cars, vans, trucks and buses are manufactured in over 200 production plants across Europe. Another major European industry is the aerospace and defence industry. It includes civil aircraft, helicopters, engines and parts, as well as military vehicles, ships and arms.

The biggest aerospace and defence industry hubs are located in France and the United Kingdom. The third major European industry is the chemical industry. Over one fourth of all chemical products in the world are produced in Europe, mostly in Germany, France, and Italy. These include medicines, artificial fertilisers, as well as products manufactured from oil, such as petrol and plastics. Different industries can be found across Europe.

How come? Let’s look at two examples. First, the steel industry which is prominent in Sweden. To produce steel, iron ore is needed in abundance, and iron ore is heavy and so difficult to transport. But Sweden is full of iron ore!

Having steel industries where the iron ore is, cuts down on transport of the raw material needed in production. Then, there is the fishing industry, which is big in Norway, the United Kingdom and in France. All these countries have long shores with easy access to the sea and large shipping ports, where fishing boats can dock. So industries develop depending on the raw materials and natural resources available in the region! Like anywhere else, European natural resources are limited.

But with increased trade around the world, natural resources can be imported to Europe, so industries can flourish also in places where there aren’t many raw materials. Many metals and minerals, as well as most of the rubber needed to support the automotive and aerospace industries, need to be imported from elsewhere. Raw materials and natural resources are not the only things that determine how industry develops in a certain country! The cost of labour, for example, often plays a big role. In recent years, some industries, especially those producing clothing and homewares, have moved their production to countries in Eastern Europe and Asia.

There, wages for workers are often lower, which decreases the manufacturing costs. This can reduce the price of items, or increase profits for the companies. Some industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, also depend more on the workforce rather than on raw materials. Pharmaceutical companies often require highly skilled labour, so they are generally located in large cities or near universities. Copenhagen is such a hub, as are Berlin and Oxford.

Industries in Europe are continuously changing and developing. This is a result of new innovation and customer demands. They are an incredibly important part of the European economy, and the products made here are exported all over the world.