Industries which use heavy and bulky raw materials in their primary stage in large quantities, are usually located near the supply of the raw materials. It is true in the case of raw material which lose their weight in the process of manufacture or which cannot bear high transport cost or cannot be transported over long distances because of their perishable nature. The Jute mills in West Bengal, Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, Cotton mills in Maharashtra and Gujarat are concentrated close to the sources of raw materials for this very reason. The industries like iron and steel which use very large quantities of coal and iron ore and lose weight in the process of manufacture are generally located near the sources of coal and iron ore. Thus, availability of raw material plays an important role in influencing the location of an industry.
