Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993 TAG: 9301190066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
STEEL PLANT HIRING
Roanoke Electric Steel Corp., pulling out of the most prolonged slump in the steel industry's recent history, has an upturn under way, based on increased orders and higher prices.The speciality steel maker's chairman, Donald Smith, said 15 to 20 people will be hired to increase plant production and boost profitability. He made the statement Monday at the company's annual stockholders meeting.
The upturn, following higher export and domestic orders and inquiries, has replaced many uncertainties since the start of the fiscal year on Nov. 1, he said.
Roanoke Electric Steel joined the rest of the steel industry on Jan. 11 in implementing a 10 percent price increase, "needed to offset rising scrap prices," Smith said. Higher scrap costs generally reflect increased demand and activity at steel mills, he added.
More employees are needed to keep the company's furnaces going seven days a week, he said. They were shut down when an industry slump hit two years ago.
The new jobs will be offered to those laid off when an old rolling mill was closed in 1991, Smith said. But several workers have found other jobs and some have been recalled to fill jobs left open by attrition at Roanoke Electric Steel.
New orders for steel billets, the raw material, are coming from mills in China and Taiwan for products used in construction, Smith said. The company has been shipping to Latin America and Mexico, where the North American Free Trade Agreement is expected to cut tariffs and increase profits.
Smith reported "a significant improvement" in orders for finished products used in fabrication for the construction industry, "much of it fueled by fears of increased prices."
The company has faced adverse economic conditions and a depressed construction industry, he said, but steel is cyclical and improved conditions are anticipated. As orders increase, the company is ready "to produce more steel, more efficiently and at lower costs than at any time in history."
Roanoke Electric Steel earlier reported its earnings surged more than 11-fold, to $2.7 million, in its fiscal year ended last October.
Shipments last year rose as sales increased 15 percent, but the industry continued to be hampered by weak construction reacting to the overbuilding of the 1980s and tight credit policies for real estate development, according to the company's annual report.