THOUGH not all analysts are willing to declare with certainty that the recession, the severest since the Great Depression, was over, there are many who maintain there are signs to suggest a vastly improved operating environment for the country's steel industry. This view came to the fore when analysts met steel industry representatives and media during a conference recently hosted by Steel Business Briefing in Chicago's Drake Hotel. An equity research analyst of KeyBanc Capital Market maintained that steel manufacturers had been reducing production capacity to levels that were far below the levels when recession struck. This would mean that even gradual increases in production capacity could result in a change of fortunes for many companies. According to the analyst, the companies had within their grasp an 'amazing recovery opportunity' in the next few years.
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