Late 1937.
While East Africa was methodically placing its pieces across the world, it had not forgotten to assess the strength of its rivals.
Japan was the first to bear the brunt of that scrutiny, after all, it was currently East Africa's openly declared "hostile nation."
Crown Prince Friedrich had obtained some information from the intelligence and trade departments.
Holding a report on the steel industry, he said, "Japan's current steel output is roughly six million tons, ranking seventh in the world, behind only France's more than seven million tons."
"Put on a global scale, that figure is not low either, because there are only seven countries in the entire world whose steel output exceeds five million tons."
"Italy's steel output is not even half of Japan's."
"However, compared with the countries at the top of the rankings, Japan's gap is obvious. Apart from France, the other major powers all produce steel on the scale of tens of millions of tons."
In fact, Japan's steel output was still considerably higher than in the previous life, because at this point in that previous life, Japan's steel production had not yet broken through six million tons.
One important reason for the change in Japan's steel figures was the increase in its sources of iron ore and coal.
In the previous life, aside from the regions it controlled and occupied, Japan had relied mainly on the United States for imports. Now, however, it could import from Southeast Asia and Australia. Australian iron ore in particular had greatly stimulated the development of Japan's steel industry.
Crown Prince Friedrich said, "Due to geopolitical maneuvering, Japan has gained comparatively more avenues for obtaining resources. After all, if we refuse to export, Britain and the United States will find it difficult to abandon this market."
"Britain's share