Shipbuilding steel and real industrial capacity

Industrial statistics matter only when they connect to practical naval construction capacity. Britain tries to retain domestic steel production because shipbuilding requires reliable access to the right grades of material. Low-grade bulk steel differs from the high-grade specialist products most relevant to advanced ships and aircraft. China can produce both, but its economy also supports very large quantities at the cheaper end of the market. British, American, Swedish, and Japanese producers instead tend to concentrate on smaller quantities of difficult, high-value steel. Total tonnage alone does not reveal the kind of industrial capability a navy can use.