A lot of planetary production of capital goods and cheap consumer goods is done within or in proximity of Carthag. Grim industrial parks sprawl deep into the Hagga Basin, the most prominent of them are plasteel mills and ordinary mines. Arrakis is blessed with enough iron, silica and rare earths to support heavy industries, though hydrocarbons are mostly imported.

Beyond plasteel, water reclamation, machine tools and construction prefabs are important sectors. This all goes into domestic use, however. The only thing Arrakis exports is spice, and everything else it makes is to help spice flow.

Pollution is rampant and unmitigated. Industrial smog, mote density and toxic fumes are so severe that life expectancy of human population here is at least a third shorter than elsewhere in the basins within the Shield Wall.

Those areas are generally unsafe, even for the Harkonnen, who often need to commit to oppression to get production in order, with less theft and waste. When they focus elsewhere, gangs often take over, providing social fabric for the abused workers.