Alexander's Worries

Alexander's decision to focus on steel rather than sugar was quite easy to make if one gave it even a second's thought. 

Politically it was far less troublesome. 

The nobles, lacking the technical knowledge, very rarely asked troublesome questions such as how the steel was made, what was Alexander's production capacity, or even just the blueprints for his complex foundry plant. 

In their inexperienced eyes, what Alexander made was certainly better than the original, but nothing to lose their mind about. The increase in quality was seen as more as a magnificent leap than a miraculous jump.

Combine this with the fact that the volume of iron Alexander produced was more than enough to fulfill their needs, and there was little incentive for them to want to produce more. 

All this was in much contrast with sugar.