The purpose of this article is to explore the historical origins and meanings of metals scarcity in industrial society by investigating which metals were regarded as scarce by Swedish industrial actors from 1870 until 1918 and why. An analysis of material from the Swedish engineering journal Teknisk Tidskrift shows that the actors perceived twenty metals to be scarce during this period. Seven different factors could be identified in the scarcity debate: geological scarcity, technical difficulties in extracting the metals, the lack of substitutes, price variations, limited transport infrastructure, domestic unavailability and legal regulations. The article shows that actors and industries experienced troublesome shortages of metals even before World War I. However, they did not regard it as a geopolitical problem until the eve of the war.

This article explores how metals scarcity affected – and was affected by – the development of incandescent lighting, and the strategies the manufacturers followed in trying to access metal resources. In the late nineteenth century, the rapidly diversifying market of gas and electric light sources carried visions of a brighter future. Lighting companies relentlessly tried to manufacture a light source with a pleasant white glow to satisfy their customers, but this glow was dependent on the metals in the lamps. This troubled manufacturers, as only a few very costly and scarce metals with a high melting point were suitable. Various manufacturers of gas mantles and electric lighting struggled to find a reliable supply of osmium, tantalum and thorium for their lamps, but found them expensive and difficult to acquire – as they had never before been used commercially. To complicate matters further, the metals were extracted in only a few mining sites, on which the companies became heavily dependent. To secure their supply and increase their independence, manufacturers pursued strategies from vertical integration to reducing their demand by, for instance, saving resources, substituting different metals, or pursuing new technological paths. Eventually the tungsten lightbulb came to dominate the market. One reason for its success was the non-problematic supply of tungsten.

This article analyses Swedish industry’s attempts to secure strategic raw materials in an era of global resource colonialism. More precisely, it tells the story of how Sandvikens Jernverk – a leading Swedish steel producer – set out to secure its need for chromium ore during the Interwar Era. Up to the late 1920s, Sandviken sourced its chromium from British and French colonies. However, the company feared the British Empire’s growing dominance in the global chromium ore market. In 1928, then, Sandviken joined forces with several other Swedish steel producers, forming a consortium that, with ample help from Swedish foreign policy actors, managed to establish an independent source of chromium ore in Turkey. This project, however, which took the form of an Istanbul-based mining company, made big losses and was abandoned after only a few years. The project failed because of changes in the world chromium market, the global economic crisis, conflicts with the company’s Turkey-based managing director and the Swedish reluctance to scale up mining in such a way that the chromium ore might compete with Rhodesian, New Caledonian and Baluchistani ore.

While global metal production has increased almost exponentially over the last hundred years, actors have constantly worried about future scarcities. This article explores why state and business actors within a small country, Sweden, have perceived metals as critical and which strategies they have advanced to cope with potential shortages. It analyzes four reports and/or records of meetings from 1917, 1954, 1980 and 2014, years when the debate about resource scarcity flourished both in Sweden and internationally. The reasons why actors feared the future supply were largely connected to price increases, potential supply disruptions because of war or political instability, and soaring demand for technologies containing metals. Even Sweden, a neutral country, feared shortages because of political instability in foreign countries because of the transnational metal flows. The actors attempted to manage shortages by increased domestic production, technological development, stockpiling, international agreements and recycling. Tracing this issue over time, the article unpacks the importance of and concerns with metal flows in an age of rapid industrial, technological and geopolitical change.