Manufacturing and processing industries

Geography of Pakistan · Industrial development. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

For each industry learn three things: its raw materials, its products, and why it is located where it is. The location follows a simple idea. A factory tries to keep its total costs low, especially the cost of transport.

If the raw material is heavy, bulky, or loses weight or quality quickly, the factory is built near the raw material: cement near limestone, sugar mills near cane fields. If the materials are imported, it is built near a port: the steel mill at Pipri and the oil refineries at Karachi.

Other industries depend most on skilled labour and tradition, such as sports goods and surgical instruments in Sialkot.

Rules to remember

Cement: limestone, clay and gypsum, with gas or coal as fuel; works near limestone in the Salt Range and near Rohri.
Cotton textiles: ginning → spinning → weaving → dyeing and finishing → garment making; main centres include Faisalabad and Karachi.
Sugar: cane is crushed soon after cutting; bagasse is burned in the mill's boilers, molasses is a by-product.
Fertiliser (urea): natural gas is the main raw material, so plants stand close to gas fields and pipelines.
Iron and steel: Pakistan Steel Mills at Pipri near Port Qasim used imported iron ore and coking coal; scrap from Gadani goes to re-rolling mills.
Sialkot: hand-stitched footballs, other sports goods and surgical instruments, mostly exported to Europe and the USA.
Location factors: capital, site, raw materials, power, water, labour, transport and communications, market, government policy.

Common mistake

Students say every factory is built near its market. Check the raw material first: if it is bulky or spoils quickly, the factory goes to the raw material.

Worked example

Several urea fertiliser plants stand in northern Sindh and southern Punjab, far from the sea. What is the most likely reason for this location?

The main raw material of urea is natural gas.
This area has gas fields and the main gas pipelines, so the gas supply is close and cheap.
It also lies in the middle of the irrigated farmland of Sindh and Punjab, which is the market for fertiliser.
A port is not needed, because the raw material is not imported.

Answer: They are sited close to their natural gas supply, with the farming market all around them.

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