Band 6+: The graphs below show changes in the steel industry in the UK between 1970 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The two line graphs depict the changes in steel demand and number of employees in the UK from 1970 to 2000.

Overall, total UK demand saw a slight decrease, while the reduction in number of employees in the UK was significantly lower throughout the period.

Between 1970 and 1982, both of them decreased considerably as total UK demand dropped from nearly 20 million tonnes to around 12 million tonnes and also 70 thousand employees left the UK steel industry. UK production experienced the most decrease as it lost nearly a halves from 17 million tonnes. However, an opposite trend was seen in that of import demand, which marginally increased from zero to five million tonnes and dropped slightly to 4 million tonnes.

From 1982 to 2000, total UK demand witnessed a slight increase, while the reduction in the number of employees in the UK was decreased to 25 thousands toward the end of the period. Moreover, the number of import demands still climbed up and reached 7 million tonnes, which was the same figure in 2000 of that of UK production.