In the industrial sector, the Luxembourg steel industry continues to occupy the first place in the country, even after the industrial reforms which have taken place since the 1960s.
History
Early development Iron was already worked and processed by the Celts in the region of modern-day Luxembourg. Archeological remains of this have been found on the Gläicht between Esch-Alzette and Rumelange. In 2003–2005, the remains of a smelting plant from the 13th or 14th century were found and excavated in the Genoeserbusch near Peppange.Michael Overbeck: "Montanarchäologie in Luxemburg - Eisenverhüttung am Vorabend des Hochofenzeitalters." In. Fondation Bassin minier (ed.): Mutations, Mémoires et perspectives du Bassin minier. Terres rouges - Approche interdisciplinaire et transnationale. Luxemburg: April 2010, p. 21-33.
In the pre-industrial period (17th-18th centuries), there were a number of furnaces throughout the country, located near rivers (for water power) or forests (where charcoal was produced). "Bohnerz" ("bean ore") was used. The furnaces only employed a small number of permanent, specialised workers, estimated at 700 in the late 18th century. This early industry involved another 8,000-10,000 workers on a seasonal basis: road workers, carriers, lumberjacks, colliers. These were generally farmers temporarily freed up from agricultural work, and earning some extra money. Luxembourgish steel industry generally produced iron bars, wrought iron and cast iron. Due to the weak domestic market, most of this was exported to workshops in Liège, which used the iron in their manufactured products which were exported from Dutch ports.
19th century In 1841/1842, there were 11 blast furnaces in Luxembourg, which all used wood and whose total annual production amounted to 7,300 tons. The blast furnaces were in the following villages:Albert Calmes: Der Zollanschluss des Grossherzogtums Luxemburg an Deutschland (1842-1918) Erster Band, p. 51.
Locality Number of blast furnaces Annual production in tons Berbourg 1 700 Lamadelaine 2 900 Bissen 2 1400 Colmar-Berg 1 700 Fischbach 2 1500 Grundhof 1 700 Ansembourg 1 700 Dommeldange 1 700
Luxembourg's steel industry changed radically in the mid-19th century. In 1842, Luxembourg joined the Zollverein (the German customs union), gaining access to a large market in the East. The treaty to join the Zollverein was regularly renewed over the next 60 years, and facilitated the country's industrial development. Profiting from the economic dynamism of its German neighbours, Luxembourg started exporting its iron ore to the Saar and Ruhr areas, but also to Belgian forges. A deposit of minette, a low-quality Luxembourgish iron ore, had been discovered in the south of the country in 1842.
In addition to the opening of the German market, the expansion of the railway network from 1855 to 1875 was another important factor, particularly the construction of the Luxembourg-Thionville railway line, with connections from there to the European industrial regions. As a consequence, it became profitable to use the harder coke instead of charcoal.
This meant that the furnace owners were more and more interested in using minette.This section, unless otherwise indicated, is based on: René Leboutte, Jean Puissant, Denis Scuto: Un siècle d'histoire industrielle (1873-1973) - Belgique, Luxembourg, Pays-Bas. Industrialisation et Sociétés. Edition SEDES 1998. From 1854 to 1869, there were 64 requests for a concession to mine minette, mostly from Belgian and Prussian companies. About two-thirds of the mined minette was exported to the Prussian Rhineland and to Belgium.
From the 1870s, the influx of German capital, the exploitation of the mines of the Esch-Alzette area in the south of the country, the use of the Gilchrist–Thomas process in steel-making after 1879, and a high level of immigration—Germans after 1870, Italians after 1890—contributed to make Luxembourg's steel industry one of the most important in Europe. Five large steel companies were founded from 1870 to 1890: Société des hauts-fourneaux luxembourgeois (1870) Société des hauts-fourneaux de Rodange (1872) Société des hauts-fourneaux de Hollerich (1877) Société des hauts-fourneaux de Rumelange (1880) Société des hauts-fourneaux et forges de Dudelange (1882) Under a law passed in 1870, the state became the owner of all minette reserves down to a certain depth. In 1880, another law was passed, which tied new concessions to mine minette under the condition that it had to be processed in Luxembourg. This enabled certain Luxembourg families to play a key role in the furnaces.
Steel industry families
The brothers Charles, Norbert and Auguste Metz founded the "Société en commandite Auguste Metz & Cie" in 1838, with the help of Belgian investments holding group "Société d'industrie luxembourgeoise". They rented the foundry of Berbourg from Jean-Nicolas Collart and in 1845 built the Eich foundry. In 1847 they bought their investors' shares, and from then on ran the company "Metz & Cie" as a family business. From 1866 to 1868, the Metz brothers built a modern steel mill in Dommeldange, with four blast furnaces, which processed coke and minette.
In 1870, Norbert Metz associated his company with the SA des Mines du Luxembourg et des Forges de Saarbruck, which was run by Victor Tesch. In 1871 they received permission to open a foundry in Esch-sur-Alzette, which was later renamed ARBED-Schifflange. This steel mill first produced cast iron, which was processed in , at . At the same time the Brasseur foundry (later "ARBED Terres Rouges") was founded in Esch, by the brothers Dominique-Alexis and Pierre Brasseur. The following year, the Steinfort foundry owners Charles and Jules Collart set up a foundry in Rodange, with other investors. The same year, the SA Gonner, Munier et Helson built blast furnaces in Rumelange.
In the 1880s, there was a further change: the Metz brothers acquired the rights to the process invented in 1879 by Sidney Thomas and Percy Gilchrist, allowing cast iron to be made into steel. They first used this process in Eich, but soon after opened a new foundry in Dudelange, which used the new procedure exclusively. To run this plant, they partnered up with Victor Tesch and the Count de Bertier, who owned a large amount of land in Dudelange, and founded the "Société anonyme des Hauts-fourneaux et Forges de Dudelange".
Turn of the century: German influence and vertical integration From the late 19th century to World War I, the Luxembourg steel industry depended entirely on Germany. 90% of the coke used in Luxembourg was imported from the Ruhr, and up to 70% of its produce was sold to Germany. The machinery and technology came from Germany, as did the skilled personnel and the engineers. The decision-making centre was in the Ruhr, whereas Luxembourg was a kind of periphery, where raw materials and semi-finished goods were made, to be processed in the Ruhr.
After the German annexation of Lorraine in 1871, Luxembourgish steel products were subject to intense competition. Germany's suppression of customs rights in 1873 and overproduction provoked an economic downturn amplified by the arrival of British cast iron. The re-establishment of customs rights in 1879 put an end to this crisis. From then onwards, cartels were formed with a view to regulating the steel market. In 1879, a Lorraine-Luxembourgish iron cartel (Lothringisch-Luxemburgisches Roheisensyndikat) was formed, and in 1889 a steel cartel, the Lothringisch-Luxemburgischer Stahlwerksverband.
Around the turn of the century, a greater level of vertical integration came about in Luxembourg. The exploitation of minette, iron extraction, steel production and the process of rolling the steel were organised close to each other. The companies banded together in bigger and bigger conglomerates:
In 1911, under the leadership of Émile Mayrisch, the Metz and Tesch families amalgamated their companies to form ARBED, the "SA des Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange". The , the second-largest German heavy industry group after Krupp, bought the Brasseur foundry (renamed Rothe Erde) and its mines, and founded the Adolf-Emil-Hütte from 1909 to 1913 in Esch-Belval. The Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG bought and modernised the Société anonyme des hauts-fourneaux de Differdange, which had been founded in 1896 by Paul Wurth and Baron Alexandre de Gerlache. It did the same with the foundry at Rumelange. The Belgian SA d'Ougrée-Marihaye took over the Rodange foundry in 1905, and added a steelworks and rolling mill, The cable producer Felten & Guilleaume, a subsidiary of the German AEG, took over the Steinfort foundry in 1912.
The production statistics make it clear how much the Luxembourg steel industry had changed within only 35 years. The volume of minette mined increased tenfold from 700,000 tons in 1868 to 7 million tons in 1913; the volume of cast iron produced increased from 100,000 tons to 2,5 million, and steel production, started only in 1886, reached 1,5 million tons in 1913. The number of blast furnaces increased from 14 in 1871 to 47 in 1913.
Just before World War I, Luxembourg was the sixth-largest cast iron producer worldwide, and the eighth-largest producer of steel.
World War I and inter-war period During World War I, industrial production continued in Luxembourg, now under German occupation.
The social crisis brought about by the war caused the workers in the metallurgy industry to found trade unions: the politically neutral Luxemburger Berg- und Hüttenarbeiter-Verband was founded on 1 September 1916, and the socialist Metallarbeiterverband was created on 3 September.
Yet the big break for the industry came later: as a consequence of the German defeat, Luxembourg had to withdraw from the Zollverein in 1919. The steel industry, amongst others, advocated a trade alliance with the French, but it was not to be. Instead, after tough negotiations, Luxembourg found a new economic and trade partner in Belgium, with whom it formed the Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union in 1921.
The post-war return of Lorraine — hitherto part of Germany — to France meant that the vast Lorraine-Luxembourg-Saar industrial complex was broken up.
The break with Germany meant that the Luxembourg steel industry not only had to reorient itself economically, but also had to restructure itself. The challenge was twofold: firstly, to secure both pre- and post-production markets (that is, on the one hand, the supply of raw materials, minette and coke, and on the other, a demand for the finished products, from nails to grey-beams); secondly, to take the place of the German firms, which had had to withdraw.
In 1919, the German companies in Luxembourg were sold:
A Franco-Belgo-Luxembourg consortium, the "Société Métallurgique des Terres Rouges", with Schneider-Creusot, ARBED and the Banque de Bruxelles as the main investors, bought the sites of the "Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG" (including the foundries "Rothe Erde" and the "Adolf-Emil-Hütte" in Esch); ARBED, together with Terres Rouges, took over coal mines around Cologne, and in Belgium and the Netherlands in 1920. It also purchased concessions and land in Lorraine. In downstream production, it took over the Cologne "Felten & Guilleaume" (1919) and the "Clouterie et Tréfilerie de Flandres" (1921). A Franco-Belgian consortium, HADIR (""), was founded by the Société générale de Belgique and the Société Lorraine des Aciers de Rombas and took over the sites of the "Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG", which included the foundries of Differdange and Rumelange, and the mines of Ottange. The foundry of Steinfort went from "Felten & Guilleaume" to "Athus-Grivégnée". They also took shares in various coal and ore mines. Schneider took over the German parts of "Ougrée-Marihaye", including the foundry of Rodange, via a subsidiary.