State of Business: Steel's Cautious Hopes

The skies glowed red again last week over the nation's steel cities as the bothered and beleaguered steel industry hummed with the greatest activity in many months.

In the steadiest gain in a year and a half, the mills melted well over 2,000,000 tons a week, raising the industry's operating rate to 70.1% of capacity. Production is up 68% from last July, and new orders are running at their heaviest rate in more than a year. To meet the new demand, Youngstown Sheet & Tube relit three ironmaking blast furnaces and nine steelmaking...

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