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...efficient are they? With its pioneering continuous-slab casting process, Steel Dynamics produces flat-rolled sheet coils for $50 to $100 less per ton than its integrated competitors. Last year output per employee was $1.1 million, vs. about $254,000 at Bethlehem. "A lot of high-tech companies don't have our revenues per employee," says Fred Warner, investor-relations manager at Steel Dynamics. And analysts say the minis' market share would probably rise even faster if imports were curtailed. "The minis will expand again with higher prices," says Robert Crandall, an economist at the Brookings Institution. "Over time they...
...steelmakers, for their part, appear confident of winning at least some trade protection. President Bush campaigned hard in steel-friendly Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia (winning the latter two), and each state could eventually be pivotal to his re-election. Analysts also suspect that Bush made some promises to Republicans from steel states to win their votes for Trade Promotion Authority--basically, enhanced negotiating power for the President--which passed the House by only one vote last December and has yet to reach the Senate floor...
...other side, steel users groups are lobbying hard and have placed ads in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and other publications, urging Bush not to "bend to Big Steel." Says General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner: "We're not going to say, 'Sorry, everybody. You have to pay more for your car because the price of steel went...
...there's a bright spot in this picture, it can be found at America's mini-mills, which are investing in new technologies, keeping costs low, rewarding workers for productivity, boosting quality and moving into new lines of business. They now account for nearly half of U.S. steel output, up from 15% in 1970. Led by Nucor, based in Charlotte, N.C., and Steel Dynamics, based in Fort Wayne, Ind., the minis run mostly nonunion shops and forge steel with less energy and labor than their integrated counterparts...
Already, as more integrated mills shutter their furnaces, the minis keep expanding. Steel Dynamics broke ground on a $315 million structural-steel and rail mill in Columbia City, Ind., last May. And just outside Mobile, Ala., a $35 million heavy-plate and coil mill went online last year, built by the Canadian firm IPSCO. Why did IPSCO invest in Alabama? A $500 million package of tax breaks and subsidies, including money for roads, rail service and docks along the Mobile River, helped attract the company, said a spokesman. So did the weakness of unions in Alabama...