Foreign markets for Swedish iron in the 18th century

Abstract

Abstract At the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden had a dominating position in the European iron trade. A century later, that position was lost for ever. Dominance and decline have naturally both called for explanation and research by Swedish historians: in some aspects of their work they have been greatly aided by the fact that Swedish statistics both of iron production and of iron exports are unusually good. Bar iron was by far the most important item in Sweden's 18th century exports; the average quantity exported during the years 1730–1799 was a little above 43,000 tons per annum. Of that quantity, more than half usually went to Great Britain and Ireland. Swedish statistics do not differentiate between the separate parts of that market; most iron went to England of course, but the export to Scotland and Ireland was not insignificant. 1 This article is an extract, with some revisions, from the author's recently published book: Fagerstabrukens historia, Sexton- och sjuttonhundratalen (1957), the first volume of a comprehensive work on the history of the Swedish iron industry and especially the history of a number of iron-works now owned by Fagersta Bruks AD. My thanks are due to Fagersta Drub AD for their permission to publish this translation from a work of which they hold a copyright. .